The irony in Haryana's election battleground, is the BJP and the Akali Dal - staunch allies at the Centre - are pitted against each other.

It started with the Haryana BJP ending its alliance with Om Prakash Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and contesting all 90 seats. Now, in at least two constituencies, its fighting the Akali Dal - still an INLD ally.

The joke is that they are ignoring each other. "We are not even taking Akali Dal into consideration. Our direct fight is with the Congress," says Anil Wig, the BJP candidate in Ambala. The Akali Dal candidate Charanjit Kaur has a similar perspective: "We are fighting the Congress. BJP is not in picture."

It gets trickier - the Haryana BJP's manifesto is aggressive over the Sutlej-Yamuna water dispute with Punjab, where Akali Dal's anti-Haryana stance is clear - and where both parties swear by their alliance.

Senior BJP Leader Arun Jaitley offers a clarification: "The Akali Dal is still a part of NDA. In Haryana, we have different strategies but no differences. In Punjab and at the national level, we are still working together."