Senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan on Sunday said his party was ready to sit in the Opposition if it did not emerge as the single largest party but indicated that if it won a larger number of seats than others it would not be averse to taking the support of the BSP.
With trends indicating a fractured verdict, Mahajan was asked whether the BJP would join hands with the BSP to form the next government. He said it was for the BSP to decide and added that the BSP coming together with the SP to form the government was a "distant possibility."
"If the BJP does not emerge as the single largest party, it should be ready to sit in the Opposition," Mahajan said.
Asked if the BJP and BSP would join hands to form the next government, the parliamentary affairs minister said it was too early to say anything in this regard. "However, it is for the other side (BSP) to decide," he said.

Dismissing suggestions that the outcome of polls in UP will have a direct bearing on the Vajpayee government, Mahajan said it will be "too harsh a judgement" to make.
Asked about the role of Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri in government formation in the state, Mahajan said "pre-poll alliances should have precedence over post-poll tie-ups." Bureau Report