Kanpur, March 30: The Congress today made overtures to Mulayam Singh Yadav as its Uttar Pradesh unit held its first state convention at home in 26 years.

The return to base — an attempt at stemming the Congress’s slide in the crucial state — was sprinkled with hints that the party was open to an alliance with “anyone who fights the communal forces”.

“We must give some sort of credit to the Samajwadi Party that they have been able to contain the BJP… in Uttar Pradesh,” Digvijay Singh, the Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh affairs, dropped the broadest of hints.

Coming a day after Mulayam’s rejection of any tie-up with the Congress, the olive branch reflects the party’s desperation to counter BSP chief Mayavati.

Yesterday, Mulayam had told reporters in Kanpur: “If the Congress wants to do something they may go to Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as nothing is left for them in UP.”

Yet, signs of a thaw in Congress-Samajwadi ties have been in evidence for some time. The Congress-led Centre recently rejected Mayavati’s request for a CBI probe into six cases involving Mulayam.

The move followed Mulayam’s acknowledgement of the Congress’s “secular” credentials and his remark that no party was “untouchable”.

Mayavati and the BJP, therefore, bore the brunt of the attacks today at the session, attended by about 2,000 delegates at Kanpur’s Nanarao Park.

Many of the delegates were crestfallen at Rahul Gandhi’s absence on the first day of the two-day convention, being held at his initiative. The Amethi MP, however, is expected to address the session tomorrow.

The last state convention in Uttar Pradesh was held in 1982 when V.P. Singh was chief minister. The Congress has been out of power in Lucknow since 1989, and the state unit has been holding all important meetings in Delhi where its leaders spend most of their time. Rahul was keen to end the practice.