Even as the seat sharing arrangement between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh seemed almost over, the two sides on Monday insisted on keeping a window of opportunity open to allow for last minute compromise in the state.

?Secular politics is not possible without Sonia Gandhi. Whoever wants to indulge in secular politics in this country, would have to take the support of Congress… This is a fact,? SP leader Amar Singh told reporters here, barely days after his party unilaterally announced candidates for 74 out of 80 seats in the state.

The Congress, which has also gone ahead and come out with a list of 24 candidates, on its part maintained that attempts to have a tie-up had not ended. ?Doors will remain open till the last moment though we are prepared to contest from all the seats? party general secretary and incharge of UP, Digvijay Singh said at a press conference in Gorakhpur.

The SP on Sunday had declared that it would not field candidates against the Congress in six seats. These include Rae Bareilly and Amethi, where Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul will be contesting as well as Dhaurara, where union minister of state Jitin Prasada has been nominated as party candidate and Kanpur, where Union minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal has been fielded. ?Even if there is no coordination between us and Congress, we will stand by our promise of not contesting Rae Bareli and Amethi,? Amar Singh reiterated on Monday.

Meanwhile, Congress said it would make every effort to keep communal forces at bay. Digvijay Singh said in order to fight the communal forces; the Congress would again seek the SP?s support to check the division of votes during the coming elections. At the same time he insisted that Congress would not compromise on its self-respect, apparently indicating that it expects an honourable deal from the SP as far as seat sharing is concerned.