The Samajwadi Party’s (SP) declaration of a candidate from the Nagina (Scheduled Caste reserved) seat in Uttar Pradesh has effectively ended the probability of an alliance with the Dalit-centric Azad Samaj Party (ASP), led by Chandrashekhar Azad. When Azad, who is also chief of the Bhim Army, had declared his own candidature from Nagina last month, it was speculated that the SP would extend support by not fielding a nominee.Azad’s close aides said the SP’s move to field Manoj Kumar from Nagina has come as a shocker for ASP supporters. But sources in the SP claimed party chief Akhilesh Yadav was not ready to yield to ‘pressure tactics’ by any smaller party following the exit of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) from the Opposition alliance.