LUCKNOW : Samajwadi Party ( SP ) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday dared Gujarat chief minister and campaign committee chairperson of Bhartiya Janta Party ( BJP ) Narendra Modi to contest next Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh (UP).

He was in Rampur district to condole the death of party colleague Azam Khan's mother.

When asked by mediapersons to comment on speculations that Modi can contest from UP, Yadav, in a lighter vein, said, "I would not welcome Gujarat chief minister but he is free to fight election from any seat in UP."

However, he hastened to add with a serious tone that people in UP are intelligent and cannot be divided on communal lines.

The statement was in the lines of what Yadav said on July 5, when he had described Modi as a 'paper tiger', saying that all hype about 'Modi's chamatkar (magic)' has been created by the media.

"Modi had camped in Karnataka and spent months there but the media did not bother to analyse it. Now a hype is being created about his influence in UP. Time will tell that the people of UP are intelligent enough to assess who is worth their support," Mulayam had said.

Political analysts say that Mulayam has been trying to play down Modi since long fearing that polarisation of votes on communal lines may hit the SP. Earlier, in view of BJP's internal bickering, Mulayam had even praised Advani to keep Modi at bay.

Muslims are also SP's vote bank. However, in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, when Mulayam shook hands with former chief minister Kalyan Singh , a section of community voted for the Congress. As a result, Congress's Lok Sabha tally in UP increased from 10 to 22 and SP came down from 35 to 22. Revival in UP helped the Congress to form UPA II. Later, Mulayam severed ties with Kalyan and apologised to Muslims, resulting in community voting overwhelmingly for the SP in 2012 assembly elections, helping it to come to power with majority.

Mulayam has also been maintaining that the SP will emerge as a major player after next general elections and play an important role in formation of the government at the Centre. He is eying prime minister post and is said to be working on post-poll formation of Third front, if alliances led by the Congress and the BJP fail to get majority.

Mulayam's ambitions would realize only if SP does well in the Lok Sabha elections, for which the party needs support of the Muslims, who are 19% of UP's population and play a crucial role in 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Division of Muslim votes would benefit the BJP.