Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday regarding their coalition for the Lok Sabha elections, evoking their past alliance during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Referencing their previous unsuccessful collaboration in the UP assembly polls, PM Modi likened it to a “flop film” being re-released. Speaking at a rally in Saharanpur, UP, he remarked, “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,” as quoted by ANI.
He further added, “‘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).”
In February of this year, both Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav jointly conducted a roadshow in Agra, marking a reunion almost seven years after their unsuccessful coalition during the 2017 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Back then, supporters of both parties had touted their leaders as “UP ke ladke.”
During the 2017 elections, the Congress had contested 114 seats but managed to secure only seven, with a vote share of 6.25 per cent.
Both the Samajwadi Party and Congress are now part of the INDIA alliance and have finalized their seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming general elections. The SP will contest 63 seats in UP, while the Congress will contest 17.
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