With the Left apparently seeing red in the growing closeness between Samajwadi Party and Congress, SP leaders on Tuesday had an hour-long meeting with the CPI(M) top brass to project a picture that they were the natural allies of the Left.

The SP has been a leading light of the UNPA and the warming up of ties with the Congress has put a question mark over the future of the Third Front', which the Left parties were also interested in.

The meeting between SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and party general secretary Amar Singh and CPI(M) leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, came close on the heels of sharp differences between the two sides on the women's reservation bill.

After the meeting, Singh projected that all was well in their ties with the Left and there was unanimity of views on "99 per cent of the issues".

Left sources, however, insisted that the meeting saw the SP leaders making a lot of explaining in view of its growing closeness with Congress.

They were asked searching questions about the relevance of the UNPA and the SP's future plans when general elections were only a year away.

The Left sought to know whether SP planned to go with Congress only in Uttar Pradesh or all over the country as part of the UPA.