Congress has been assiduously courting Samajwadi, and now seems well placed to use it to fill the hole left in its coalition by Ms Banerjee's lurch into overt opposition, and so avert an early election.
In addition to population monitoring, volunteers check for breakage in the 2m-high, 20km-long, 1m-deep anti-dingo and dog fence that surrounds the park, and fill up water containers placed around the reserve for the wombats each day.