Taking a swipe at the opposition, the prime minister asked "if Modi is so bad and government not working, why this alliance (was formed)."

He also launched a scathing attack on the Congress saying it had pushed the country into darkness, bled banks and had created road blocks to an early judicial solution to the Ayodhya dispute.  

Out of the 80 seats in the state, BSP and SP will contest on 38 each, two seats will go to smaller allies, while Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will go uncontested by the alliance.

SP-BSP alliance for Lok Sabha polls: UP CM Yogi Adityanath has termed the alliance between Akhilesh and Mayawati as casteist.

Addressing a joint press conference with Akhilesh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati said that the SP-BSP alliance was aimed at defeating BJP and company in 2019 general elections.

The prime minister accused the Congress of creating hurdles in the way of resolution of Ram temple dispute in Ayodhya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief ministers of BJP ruled states were among those attending the important event ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Just a day ahead of the presser, Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said that the alliance will get the math right in the upcoming parliamentary elections and the BJP will face defeat.

It is pertinent to mention here that recently the Centre amended the Constitution to give 10 per cent quota to the economically weaker upper caste.

Modi was speaking at an interaction with party booth-level workers from five districts in Tamil Nadu through video conferencing.

Little did Rahul Gandhi know that his comments on Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during debate on Rafale deal in Parliament would evoke a bashing from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who accused the Congress President of insulting the women of the country.   

As the ruling party and its allies hailed the quota as historic, Congress and others said that it was party's way of fooling people weeks ahead of the polls.

Facing flak, the CBI came out with details about the mining case in Uttar Pradesh with its officials claiming that the office of Yadav when he was the chief minister had cleared 13 projects in one single day.

According to the Psephologist Bhawesh Jha, the Modi government may done a lot of work for the community but it has failed to change its perception due to anti-Muslim statements by its leaders time and again.

On being asked about an official announcement regarding BSP-SP alliance, Akhilesh hinted that an announcement would be made this week.    

Modi said the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was so fixated with the rise of his son that he does not realise how his policies and corruption can lead to sunset of the state.

Gandhi's attack came after a media report claimed that "not a single rupee of the said Rs 1 lakh crore has come to HAL, since not a single order, as claimed, has been signed till now".

Can the BJP repeat its 2014 show in Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh despite emergence of strong regional alliances?

Since the prime minister had fought from Varanasi in 2014 with the blessings of Lord Jagannath he might prefer Puri this time, Purohit said, adding that the party's Parliamentary Board would take a final decision on it.