New Delhi: Distancing themselves from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two key National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies, Samata Party and Janata Dal (United), on November 6 said that they would go it alone in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections.

While Samata Party will field 50 candidates, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) will test its popularity at 20 to 25 seats.

"We will have no alliance with BJP in Gujarat. There will be no common manifesto or programme. We will have our own manifesto and they will have their own," Samata Party spokesman Shambu Shrivastava told reporters.

JD (U) president and Union Minister Sharad Yadav said that his party had contested the Assembly elections in Gujarat all by itself and four of its candidates won. "This time we hope to do better," he said and added that JD (U) ranked third after BJP and Congress in the state.

Shrivastava said that there was a proposal for seat-adjustment with BJP and the party chief George Fernandes had conveyed it to BJP president Venkaiah Naidu who asked for a week's time to decide.

"But more than a week has since passed and there is no communication from the other side," he said, adding that the Samata Party (SP) had set in motion drafting of its election manifesto and selecting candidates.

Shrivastava said that his party would field its candidates mostly in Saurashtra, Kutch, Central and South Gujarat.

Asked if JD (U) would clash with other NDA partners, Yadav said, "NDA is only at the Centre and in a couple of states like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand but not in Gujarat where the parties can fight independently."

PTI