KANNAUJ: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today slammed the ruling Samajwadi Party for its pre-poll alliance with Congress, likening it to a movie in which rivals befriend each other after the "interval".
Addressing an election rally here, he said Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav does not know how "cunning Congress people are" and reminded him about an "assassination attempt" made on his father Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1984 allegedly by a Congress leader.
Modi also attacked the opposition for creating hue and cry over demonetisation and levelling all kinds of allegations against him, saying "lies will not work as the people of the country are quite aware now".
Severely critical of Akhilesh for entering into the alliance with Congress, he said, "A film is being played on the political stage of Uttar Pradesh in which the opponents, who had attacked each other with slogans such as '27 saal UP behal' and taken out yatras in the first half, have turned friends after interval and have embraced each other."
He said Samajwadi Party and Congress were campaigning against each other before the announcement of polls "but came together after the interval to enter into the alliance for the elections."
Reaching out to voters here in Kannauj which falls in the Lok Sabha constituency represented by Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav, Modi said, "SP-Cong tie up will shatter your dreams."
While targeting the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister over the alliance with Congress, the Prime Minister said, "I want to ask how Akhilesh forgot the attack carried out on Mulayam Yadav by Congress in 1984... What can be more shameful than befriending those who tried to murder one's father?... They cannot be pardoned.
"Kya raajneeti itni gir gayi hai ke kursi ke moh mein iss prakaar ke kaand kiye jaaye (has politics degraded to such an extent that for the love of power such a thing would be done)?"
Recalling the incident, Modi said, "Fed up of attacks by Mulayam Singh as Leader of the Opposition in Vidhan Parishad, Congress got shots fired at him on March 4, 1984 but he scraped through...I want to tell Akhilesh that he should have remembered this incident before sitting in the lap of Congress."
He went on to add, "Akhileshji ko abhi anubhav kum hain, Congress wale kitne chatur hain inko samajh nahi aata...
Mulayam ji ko toh pata tha (Akhilesh has less experience. He does not understand how cunning Congress people are. Mulayam knew about it)."
On March 4, 1984, Mulayam Singh's car was fired at by some persons while he was on his way from Etawah to Lucknow and the name of a strong Congress leader had figured in the case.
Hitting out at Congress, Modi said the party was running a three-legged race with one leg tied to Bahujan Samaj Party and another to Samajwadi Party.
"During the first press conference after the alliance, Akhilesh had attacked Mayawati but when Congress vice president was asked about her, he said he had nothing to say against her," the Prime Minister said.
Rahul had said, "I personally respect Mayawati. Though BSP ruled in Uttar Pradesh and made some mistakes, my respect for her is intact".
This had prompted BJP to dub BSP as a hidden partner of Congress-Samajwadi Party.
"They cannot win this race as BJP, which is running on two legs, will pip them to the post," Modi told the rally today.
On the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh, Modi said the abbreviation of UP may be read as "up", but everything is "down" in the state.
"The only thing up in UP is corruption, law and order, riots, atrocities on women, unemployment, poverty, mortality rate of mother and child, migration...and Akhilesh says 'kaam bolta hai' (work speaks)...it is not kaam but karname (misdeeds) which are speaking for him," Modi said.
Claiming that the Centre has taken important steps for the welfare of farmers, the Prime Minister said his party has promised in its manifesto that onion and potato will be bought at Minimum Support Price and will not allow the potato growers to die.
"BJP manifesto promises loan waiver of small farmers...As an MP from the state, I promise that it will be my responsibility that this promise is fulfilled in the first meeting of the BJP government," said Modi, who represents Varanasi constituency in the Lok Sabha.
Addressing the gathering in this region having a large number of potato growers, Modi said in the last (Lok Sabha) elections the "bahu" (Dimple Yadav) of Samajwadi Party had promised to set up chips-making unit here which did not come through, but she won the poll.
"Will you not seek a reply from her or not," the Prime Minister asked in his typical question-answer style of establishing direct rapport with the public.
"The SP government (in UP) is anti-poor," he said, adding that while he himself as no home or vehicle of his own, SP leaders have large fleets of vehicles.
"What kind of samajwad (socialism) is this? It is nothing but betrayal of poor. Scams are being reported even in orphanages in UP," Modi said.
He contended that central assistance for foodgrains was not reaching the poor in UP as the state government was not interested in accepting it.
He also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi saying, "the Congress leader seeking vote from you is not aware that potato is grown in the field and not in factory...He (Rahul) took out a kisan yatra and talked about setting up potato factory."
Claiming that people of the country have hailed note ban, he said this is proved by BJP's victories in Panchayat polls in Odisha, Municipal elections in Chandigarh and Gujarat and Vidhan Parishad poll in UP.
Congratulating ISRO scientists, he said they have hit a century by launching a record 104 satellites at one go.
Modi also cited the decision of his government to slash prices for coronary stents for heart patients.
"The stents will be sold at Rs 8,000 against Rs 45,000 earlier. Congress had failed to revise the prices for years," he said.
Modi said opposition played all types of games in the last three months raking up issues like demonetisation and surgical strike.
Referring to anomalies in recruitments in UP, Modi said police recruitment in Uttar Pradesh is driven by caste-based decisions.
"We have removed interview requirement from the recruitment process in Class III and Class IV categories in central government. Around one lakh people were recruited in Railways without an interview," he said.
There are plans for recruitment in BSF and CISF which will be done in a fair and honest manner to give jobs to the deserving candidates, Modi added.
Promising to continue the fight against black money and corruption, he appealed to people of Kannuj to vote for BJP on February 19 in the third phase of polling.