Congress tried to kill your father, how can you join hands with them? PM Modi asks UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav

Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh: Dwelling on the father-son divide in Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party(SP),Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi chose to remind the north Indian state's chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, of the alleged attempt on his father's life in 1984by a Congress party member.

"I want to ask how Akhilesh forgot the attack carried out on Mulayam(Singh)Yadav by Congress in 1984... What can be more shameful than befriending those who tried to murder one's father?... They cannot be pardoned."Modi was campaigning forBharatiyaJanataParty(BJP)that leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) federal government.

That Modi chose to drive home the jibe in Yadav's family turfKannaujthat is apart of the Lok Sabhaconstituency Akhilesh's wife, Dimple,representsin the Indian Parliament, is central to the BJP's attack on the SP-Congress combine contesting together in the assembly polls for India's most populous state.Akhilesh's dramatic and rather public fallout with his father, Mulayam Singh,SPfounder, and the way he wrested control of the party leadership is being touted by the BJP as a sign of disloyalty by the son with his father, something unacceptable in Indian culture.

Speaking in Hindi, Modi told the gathering inKannauj,"Has politicsbeendegraded to such an extent that for the love of power such a thing(joining hands with Congress)would be done?"

Thisisalso the first time an Indian Prime Minister has visitedKannauj, perhaps as a nod to Akhilesh Yadav's growing clout in a state considered central to Indian politics, being its most populous and having a direct bearing on the number of Members of Parliament seats a party gets in theRajyaSabha or the Upper Houseof Indian Parliament.

"Fed up of attacks by Mulayam Singh asleader of theopposition inthe stateassembly, Congress got shots fired at him on March 4, 1984,but he survived...I want to tell Akhilesh that he should have remembered this incident before sitting in the lap of Congress,"Modi said in a pointed attack on Akhilesh Yadav's family dynamics, something the BJP has been using to discredit the SPfor a while.

Healsowent on to add, "Akhileshjikoabhianubhavkumhain, Congress walekitnechaturhaininkosamajhnahiaata... Mulayam jikotohpatatha(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 atwhile he was on his wayto LucknowfromEtawahin UP.Thename of a powerfulCongresspolitician had come up in connection with the shooting.

Attacking the SP-Congress alliance in the state poll, Modi said the two partieswere campaigning against each other before the announcement of polls "but came together after the interval to enter into the alliance for the elections".

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's tempered response to DalitleaderMayawati,who leads theBahujanSamajParty,at the joint press conference with Akhilesh for announcing the alliance with SP also drew the fire from Modi who called it Congress's"three-legged race with one leg tied toBahujanSamajParty and another to Samajwadi Party".

"During the first press conference after the alliance, Akhilesh had attackedMayawati,but when Congress vice-president was asked about her, he said he had nothing to say against her,"Modisaid.

Gandhihad said, "I personally respectMayawati.Although 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.

However, Akhilesh seemed in no hurry to endorse the Prime Minister's take on his equationwithMayawatiwhom he callsbuaji(father's sister) in jest in his poll speeches.

He told voters in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao today that they should not trust theBSP as it might join hands with BJP after the assembly elections.

"Buaji(Mayawati) is saying she will sit in the opposition if she is unable to form government. Elections are not over yet, but she is ready to sit in the opposition.

"She cannot be relied upon. She can join hands with anyone. She had celebrated 'Rakshabandhan' with a BJP leader earlier and she can do it in the future also," Akhilesh said at an election rally in Unnao.

His remarks came afterMayawatisaid that she would rather be in the opposition than form an alliance with BJP to form the government in Uttar Pradesh and accused the saffron party of spreadingrumoursof a coalition with BSP.

On Wednesday, however, theBSP chiefseemed pleased withthe polling trend in the second phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll, saying it indicated that her party was surging towards getting a majority.

"Just like the first phase, the second phase of polling in 67 seats which took place today is a good indication that BSP is coming to power in UP with full majority," she said in a statement here.

(WION with agency inputs)