The Indian National Lok Dal's (INLD) decision to snap ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and walk out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has come as a godsend for the rival Congress party. The Congress failed to win a single seat in four out of five northern states in the last general elections.

The INLD-BJP combine had swept the last Lok Sabha polls in Haryana, winning five seats each. However, the Lok Dal president Om Prakash Chautala, who is also the state chief minister, announced his decision to end its ties with the BJP on Monday, launching a scathing attack on the BJP leadership for constantly working against his government.

Selja, national secretary of the Congress party, said: "They were uneasy allies all along and it was bound to happen. Their fighting has made it much easier for us. I am sure we will win at least eight out of 10 seats from the state." Selja plans to contest the Sirsa seat during the upcoming polls.

The Lok Dal does not dispute the fact that the Congress party will gain, that it may win all five seats that the BJP held in the just dissolved Lok Sabha.

"The morale of the Congress party has gone up since they will gain the most at the cost of the BJP. I cannot predict who will win how many seats but the fight now will be between our party and the Congress party," Vinod Mehta, one of Chautala's political advisors said.

The Lok Dal blames the BJP for testing their patience during the past four- and-a-half years of their ties and pushing them to take this decision.

The local leaders of the BJP however had mounted pressure on their central leadership to distance themselves from Chautala's party saying they stand a better chance politically since the popular mood in the state is against the state government.

Chautala, incensed by comments made by BJP chief Venkiah Naidu had said he would explore joining a third front.

The BJP is aware that without an alliance with one of the regional parties they stand little chance of winning even one of the five seats. Hence, the overtures to former ally Chaudhary Bansi Lal, former state chief minister and president of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP).

The duo had contested the 1998 Lok Sabha elections together but could win only one seat each. The BJP subsequently drifted closer to Chautala who offered unconditional support of his four lawmakers to the BJP-led coalition. The snap polls held the very next year saw them sweep all 10 seats in the state.

Bansi Lal, said to be angry with the BJP for its grand betrayal in the past, however, is not too keen on bailing the BJP out of the political mess saying his target is 2004 Haryana state assembly elections and not the Lok Sabha polls.

Having broken ties with the BJP, the Lok Dal right now is finalising plans to expand its base and contest the Lok Sabha polls form Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi and Bihar. The party tasted some success by winning four assembly seats from Rajasthan in December last year.