Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee set the speculation rolling when at a political rally in his constituency Lucknow this week he urged Muslim voters to support a powerful regional rival, the Samajwadi Party.

Poll pundits were surprised at the statement as the Samajwadi Party has a history of hostility towards Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but many agreed it was a smart attempt by the premier to rope in a potential ally in the key state of Uttar Pradesh.

With exit polls from the first rounds of voting in the five-phased poll ending May 10 showing no party being able to muster a big enough majority to form a government on its own, analysts say both the BJP and its rival-in-chief, the Congress, will have to woo smaller parties.

With Uttar Pradesh boasting 80 parliamentary constituencies, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its regional rival the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are likely to play the role of kingmakers in the federal parliament, analysts say.

The BSP, which has a powerful voter base among poor lower caste voters in northern India, was once a part of Vajpayee's coalition government but parted ways last year after a row.

With the Congress of Sonia Gandhi also out to woo both Samajwadi and Bahujan Samaj, the two parties have so far failed to show their hand.

However, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is also chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, has indicated he is softening towards the BJP, press reports said Thursday.

Gandhi, the reports said, has meanwhile been trying to win over BSP leader Mayawati, who like many Indians uses only one name, but the overtures have so far been rebuffed.

Joining the fray, meanwhile, has been the chief minister of eastern Bihar state Laloo Prasad Yadav, leader of the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal, who Thursday openly urged the BSP to support a Congress Party-led federal government.

BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said earlier this week the ruling party was open to new allies but would not desperately seek partners to cobble together a majority.

The Congress Party appeared to be an unlikely winner ahead of the national polls which started on April 20, but strategic alliances with regional parties had turned its fortunes around sharply, analysts say.