Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will "rescue" Uttar Pradesh from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
"Is baar ek taraf woh jinko apna parivaar bachaana hai, dusre jinko bas kursi pakadni hai. Teesre hum hai jinhe sirf UP bachana hai. (This time there is one which is trying to save their family while the other is trying to grab the power. The third is us, who are just trying to save UP)," he said in a public rally in Mahoba, UP.
Modi was addressing the rally barely an hour after SP's chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had a very public spat with his son and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, following which the latter broke down and offered to resign.
Meanwhile the PM made the state election, which is scheduled for early next year, personal, saying the state had a special claim on him. He won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the constituency of Varanasi. Calling UP "our mother", Modi said BJP would ensure it wasn't "looted" by SP and BSP anymore. He claimed that the government had provided funds for development work in Bundelkhand, which was not utilised.
"Let's break the cycle of SP-BSP and choose instead to make UP an 'Uttam Pradesh'," said the PM.
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