Allahabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday exuded confidence that the BJP-Apna Dal alliance would form the next government in Uttar Pradesh while the ruling Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the BSP were "merely trying to salvage their face."
Addressing a rally in Andhawa, 40 km from the city, Modi also mocked at the SP-Congress alliance, recalling the "27 saal, UP behaal.." slogan saying that "those who were lamenting about the state's plight have ended up joining hands with the ones who they blamed for the current state of affairs."
Seeking to strike a personal rapport, the Prime Minister said, "I am a Member of Parliament from UP but all my efforts to serve the state have been negated by the SP government."
In a region having a substantial Kurmi population, Modi referred to its ally Apna Dal more than twice and signed off his 45-minute speech saying "the country would have been different, had Sardar Patel been its first Prime Minister."
