Unnao (UP), Feb. 20 (PTI): Attacking Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the chief ministerial candidate was "insecure" about his seat and had to seek help from his father whom he had "humiliated" to capture the party.
''The seat, which these people considered as the safest, is also getting out of their reach," Modi said at a rally here, in an apparent reference to the Karhal constituency from where Yadav is contesting in his family stronghold of Mainpuri.
Ahead of the polling in the third phase, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had campaigned for his son Akhilesh Yadav in the constituency though he has maintained a low profile during this election.
The Karhal seat with a majority of Muslim and Yadav voters is considered safe for the SP as these communities have over the years favoured the party in the caste-dominated politics of Uttar Pradesh.
Modi targeted Akhilesh Yadav who was seen in a video purportedly pushing Mulayam Singh Yadav on the stage during a power struggle within the party before the 2017 assembly elections.
"You must have seen, the father who was pushed from the stage was humiliated and the party was captured, he had to plead to him for saving the seat," the prime minister said, without naming anyone.
"If the chief ministerial candidate himself is insecure about his constituency, you can gauge the direction of the wind," Prime Minister Modi said,
Modi alleged that mafias and criminals dictated the terms during the Samajwadi Party rule.
He also took a swipe at Akhilesh Yadav over his outburst against police personnel at a recent election rally.
''Those abuses from the stage, that threat was not only for the police of UP. It was an attempt to give courage to rioters and his mafia friends," the prime minister said.
Batting for a second term for Yogi Adityanath as chief minister, Modi said, "Today in UP there is only one echo everywhere- '2017 me haraya tha, 2022 me phir se harayenge, UP ke log keh rahe hain yogiji ko layenge" ( People of UP are saying that you will be defeated in 2022 as in 2017, and we will bring Yogiji again).
"For the dynasts, the biggest priority is their and their close one's interests. If the people of UP are insulted anywhere, they turn a blind eye to it if it does not serve their interest," he said.
''Those who had insulted the people of UP during the West Bengal polls were also brought here by these dynasts,'' he said.