Battleground 2024: INDIA bloc to disintegrate after June 4, says PM Modi

PM Modi said that Akhilesh Yadav should ask his "bua" why she calls people from UP and Bihar outsiders

Phrases such as “Trinamool Congress (brand of) politics” and “bua-babua (aunt-nephew) bonhomie", a reference to the political equation between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav made its debut in Uttar Pradesh’s political discourse on Thursday.

Addressing a rally in Bhadohi, where the Opposition alliance fielded a Trinamool Congress candidate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the electorate to be wary of the Opposition’s attempt to dish out the "Trinamool (brand of) politics" in UP, which he alleged involved harassing women, Dalits and the murder of Hindus. In his public meeting in Pratapgarh, the PM accused the SP and Congress of issuing an appeal for “vote jihad” against Modi.

He predicted that the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) would disintegrate after June 4.

If Trinamool’s politics became an issue that the PM flagged in UP, in Bengal’s Tamluk, addressing a public meeting, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee clarified her statement made on Wednesday that her party would extend outside support to the opposition front INDIA after it comes to power. 

“At the all-India level, some people have misunderstood my statement yesterday. I am very much part of the INDIA alliance. The INDIA alliance was my brainchild. We are together at the national level and will continue to be together,” she said.

Banerjee alleged that the West Bengal units of both CPI(M) and Congress, who are part of the INDIA alliance, have joined hands and helped the BJP in the state, a comment made with an eye on the 2026 Assembly polls in Bengal. 

On Wednesday, Banerjee had said her party would give outside support to an INDIA alliance government, which was construed to mean that she was no longer part of the alliance.

 In UP, the PM ridiculed the SP-TMC alliance. 

"The previous bua (hinting at Mayawati) identified the SP people and left them. They have now brought a bua (aunt) from Bengal (a reference to Banerjee)," the PM said. The SP and BSP had an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Modi said a game of bua and babua (referring to Akhilesh Yadav) is going on.

He said that Akhilesh Yadav should ask his “bua” why she calls people from UP and Bihar outsiders. In Bhadohi, the BJP's Vinod Kumar Bind is pitted against Lalitesh Pati Tripathi of the TMC and Harishankar of the BSP.

 At his public meeting in Jaunpur, the PM said people would earlier talk of Delhi and Mumbai when discussing development, but now the country and the world talk about Kashi-Ayodhya. “Modi and Yogi are going to change the picture and fate of Purvanchal over the next five years," he added.