Pranab meets Amar Singh

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh held talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday as the Congress searched for new allies to cobble up a majority to form the next government.

The talks between the two took place close on the heels of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh seeking to break the ice with the SP General Secretary by calling him up. Highly placed Congress sources dismissed speculation that the distribution of portfolios, in case of the formation of a Congress-led government, was discussed at the meeting.

The refrain in the Congress camp is that ministerial portfolios can only be discussed after the results are declared.

Amar Singh said that SP's long term relationship with the Congress would depend on what the party got after 'bargaining, which would be based on the number of seats SP secures'.

"Congress will talk to us if we have the numbers," Singh said.