The increased bonhomie between Congress and Samajwadi Party was visible during the function to mark completion of three years of UPA II here as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi released the annual report card on the government's performance.

Incidentally, as leaders of parties supporting UPA from outside --- SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad were present in the function, UPA's second biggest constituent Trinamool Congress sent only a junior minister Saugata Roy to attend the function.

Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary, however denied that any message was sought to be given to anybody with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad sitting on the podium along with senior ministers and leaders of parties which have representatives in the cabinet.

"This is no signal to anyone. We maintain the dignity of everybody. This is a matter of courtesy that Mulayam Singh Yadav came. It was his graciousness that he came," she said.

The Congress leader at the same time significantly added "In democracy anything is possible...In democracy, we benefit only by talking and not by not talking" when asked whether the increased bonhomie between Congress and SP means the UPA alliance could be broadened during 2014 Lok Sabha polls with parties like SP and RJD also being part of it.

Responding to questions on the SP chief and the RJD chief sharing the dais with ministers, Union Minister RPN Singh said, "it was not about alliance".

He said, "the fundamental politics of Congress has been to fight communalism. Wherever required, we have joined hands to strengthen secularism."

The indications of increasing bonhomie between SP and Congress were available yesterday as well, when Samajwadi MP Naresh Agrawal in Rajya Sabha demanded that Lokpal Bill be referred to a select committee.

Both the Left and the NDA criticised the move saying that the government should have directly done it without using the shoulder of a friendly party. Leaders from the Left speaking on the condition of anonymity admitted that the two parties are inching closer.

Even at the UPA party, the SP Supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav indicated his support to Congress candidate for President's post provided he is not a bureaucrat.

"One condition, he should not be a bureaucrat," Yadav told reporters here when asked whether SP would support a Congress candidate.

Earlier both the SP and Trinamool Congress had decided to take a joint decision on the issue of Presidential nominee.

Mamata Banerjee yesterday told a TV channel that she prefers Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Gopal Gandhi and A P J Abdul Kalam for the Rashtrapti Bhavan and gave enough indications she did not prefer the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee for the top post.

Congress managers, however, sought to explain it saying since the leaders were early to arrive at the function, it would have been inappropriate to make them sit among the audience.

"Nothing more should be read into that," they said.

Yadav replied in the negative to a query whether his party would join the UPA government.

Speculation of Congress and SP joining hands after the UP elections were in the air for a long time in the wake of Trinamool Congress opposition to a number of key decisions including FDI in retail.

At the UPA dinner, Yadav, Lalu shared the table with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Trinamool Congress' Saugata Roy, DMK leader T R Baalu and Congress veteran Karan Singh.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Minister of State K C Venugopal shared the table with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.