The Congress staying out of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh in 2019 is a situation which seems to please all sides. Leaders from all three parties argue that the Congress would make a better ‘ally’ by staying outside the alliance than it would be by being part of it. BJP also sees a positive in this as it feels that the Congress will split the Muslim votes.The reference point for the Congress and SP is the 2017 assembly elections and the lessons from that ‘joint’ defeat, senior leaders from both parties in Lucknow told ET. “Congress’ major vote-bank are the upper-castes and the Brahmins in UP. When we allied with the SP in 2017, most of our upper-caste voters voted for the BJP. This vote-bank –– which hates the SP and dislikes the BJP –– deserts us when we are with SP. Outside the alliance, Congress splits the upper-caste vote and hurts the BJP much more,” a senior Congress leader in the state said. He said the party would fight all the seats in UP or enter into an alliance with Shivpal Singh Yadav’s party.“We will end up winning more seats than the BSP. There would be a tactical friendly fight with the SP in many seats. Remember, we won 22 Lok Sabha seats in 2009 on our own and we are now seen as the national alternative. Our stock is up in UP now, given Rahul Gandhi ’s image after the three state election wins,” the Congress leader said.A senior SP leader also spoke on similar lines, saying the Congress is “not able to add-on” to the alliance but will end up reducing SP-BSP votes if it is part of the alliance.“Our leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had warned us from allying with the Congress then on the same grounds. The Congress eats up much space in the alliance –– we gave them one-fourth of the seats in 2017 –– and would want 15-20 seats now in the Lok Sabha in UP, which will be impossible. The alliance will become unwieldy with BSP and RLD as part of the alliance. Also, it leads to a personality clash between Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi,” a senior SP leader told ET.With a Dalit-Backward-Muslim consolidation with the SP and BSP allying, these parties feel they don’t need anyone else to win any seat in UP. “This was evident when the SPBSP understanding led to by-poll wins in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana when the Congress contested separately,” the SP leader said. Votes polled by SP and BSP – taken together – were more than that of the BJP in 2017, despite the SP fighting in only 311 of the 403 seats and BJP winning 325 seats.