BJP's attempts to acquire new allies finally made some headway with the party reaching agreement on seat sharing with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The formal announcement is likely to come on Thursday, February 26, when the BJP's central election committee meets to decide the candidate's list for Lok Sabha elections. Tickets will be distributed in March. Indication of a BJP-RLD seat-sharing deal came after a meeting between Ajit Singh and LK Advani.

The BJP had initially offered six seats – in the Jat-dominated western Uttar Pradesh – to the RLD. These included Baghpat, which is Ajit Singh's stronghold, Muzaffarnagar, Mathura, Amroha, Nagina and Hathras. It is now reported to have agreed to allocate an additional seat to the RLD.

The RLD chief's meeting with the NDA's prime ministerial candidate was preceded by some hard-nosed talks between the parties. BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, who is in-charge of steering the party's campaign, had been holding discussions with Ajit Singh.

Meanwhile, the BJP's drive to reach out to more and more people in the Lok Sabha elections is getting help from an "unofficial SMS campaign" launched by a group called the "friends of BJP". Mobile subscribers across the country will receive SMSes asking for subscription of regular alerts from "friends of BJP" on the party's LS campaign.

Rajesh Sinha/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication