New Delhi: The BJP has put off the process of selecting candidates for the Uttar Pradesh elections even as rivals — the BSP, Samajwadi Party and the Congress —have completed the exercise or are close to finishing it.

Sources said the main reason was the fear that rivalry between the state and central leaders of the BJP might "actively" come into play once the names are up for consideration in the high-stakes poll.

To minimise the threat of factionalism, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari decided against projecting a chief ministerial candidate. He announced that four leaders — Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Surya Pratap Shahi and Uma Bharti — representing some of the state's major castes would spearhead the campaign.

Sources said the quartet, in which Uma was an "outsider" as she hailed from Madhya Pradesh, was listing nominees and pulling their weight with Delhi leaders to have them cleared.

Rajnath, a former chief minister, is reportedly working to persuade Lok Sabha opposition leader Sushma Swaraj, while Shahi and Mishra hope Jaitley will "help" them out.

An aspirant from Lucknow said the scenario was "muddled". "We still don't know if Mayawati will hold local body elections. If she does, we will have to find candidates for these and then get down to the Assembly poll lists. So while the other parties' workers are going about their job, our cadres are twiddling their thumbs."

The ticket hopeful added that the contenders would have to be endorsed by "at least 35 per cent" of the cadres if they were to have a serious shot at winning. The Uttar Pradesh leaders were informed that once the ongoing yatras of party leaders were completed, the candidates' selection would be Delhi's "priority".

LK Advani's countrywide anti-corruption yatra culminates in a rally at Delhi's Ramlila grounds on Sunday while month-long poll-related yatras led by Mishra and Rajnath ended in Ayodhya on Thursday.

That things were not on board became apparent in the temple town on Thursday when Vinay Katiyar, a prominent symbol of the Ram temple movement, walked out of a public meeting in a huff after making a brief speech.

A well-known OBC face, Katiyar's mug was left out of the posters in Ayodhya-Faizabad — which he thrice represented in the Lok Sabha — while that of Uma, also a backward caste leader, dominated them.

A sulking Katiyar is not the only problem. A debate has begun on whether Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi would be enlisted in the campaign.

Gadkari — who virtually snapped communication with Modi after the Gujarat chief minister did not attend the BJP's last national executive—reportedly told confidants that he would be a "liability" in a state with close to 20 per cent Muslim population.

But an MLA from eastern Uttar Pradesh retorted saying: "Are the Muslims dying to vote the BJP? Modi has a tremendous ability to motivate our cadres, our hard-core backers and even some of the floating voters. He's an asset."

Sources said typically, the RSS was expected to intervene and pronounce the last word on the sticky issues.