PM Modi's "Flop Film" Swipe At Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav At UP Rally

In a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over the tie-up between the two parties for the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday referred to their unsuccessful partnership in 2017 assembly polls in the state and said "do ladkon ki flop film" has been released again.

Addressing a rally here, the Prime Minister also attacked the INDIA alliance and said while they are for "commission", his government is on a mission.

Attacking Congress, he said the party is finding it difficult to find candidates even from its strongholds and that there were instances where party candidates did not file nominations.

"This is the first election I am witnessing where the opposition is contesting not to win but to contain the BJP below 370 seats and NDA 400. Samajwadi Party is in such a condition that they have to change the candidates every hour and for Congress, it is even worse, they aren't finding candidates, even at their strongholds... 'Do ladkon ki film jo pichali baar flop ho chuki hai, un do ladkon ki film ko in logon ne fir se release kiya hai (the film of two boys, which flopped last time, that these people have launched again)," he said.

Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav had held a roadshow in Agra in February this year, almost seven years after the Congress and Samajwadi Party tied up for the 2017 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh in which they did not do well. The supporters of the two parties described their leaders as "UP ke ladke" during the 2017 poll campaign.

PM Modi said the BJP has won the trust of the people through its actions.

"Today is the foundation day of BJP. In just a few decades, record numbers of our countrymen have joined the BJP. The party has won the trust of the people, BJP has won the hearts of the people. The biggest reason for this is that the BJP does not follow politics but follows national policy. For BJP, the nation comes first, this is not BJP's slogan but our article of faith," he said.

He also attacked the UPA rule saying that the country was going through a "period of despair and crisis".

"Ten years ago, I came to Saharanpur for an election meeting. At that time, the country was going through a period of great despair and great crisis. I had guaranteed you at that time that I would not let the country bow down. I had resolved that with your blessings, I will turn despair into hope, hope into faith. You left no stone unturned in your blessings and Modi left no stone unturned in his hard work," he said.

PM Modi said the BJP government works without discrimination and noted that the government also brought the bill to abrogate triple talaq.

"Abrogating article 370 has been our mission and this mission has also been completed. The stones thrown by stone-pelters in Kashmir, Modi took that stone and started building Vikasit Jammu and Kashmir... Today, every Indian says, 'Niyat sahi to natije sahi'. BJP government works without any discrimination, we want our policies to reach everyone and for this, we have worked for 10 years. Our mantra is 'saturation', which means people should benefit 100 per cent, that's the real secularism and social justice," he said.

Referring to allegations of the opposition about the misuse of probe agencies, PM Modi said the action "against corruption" will continue.

"INDI alliance is for Commission. Whereas NDA, Modi government is for the mission...," he said.

Saharanpur along with seven other seats in Uttar Pradesh will go to the polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)