Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai on Wednesday claimed that the party lost several seats in the state in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls due to the misuse of government machinery by the ruling BJP.

“We were comfortably winning the Deoria, Maharajganj, Basgaon and Amroha seats along with some other seats, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) misused official machinery to snatch our candidates’ win,” he said.

Addressing a press conference, Rai said the election results, especially of Uttar Pradesh, are being discussed in the entire country as the opposition-backed INDIA bloc excelled by winning more than 200 seats.

“This time UP has deflated Modi ji’s slogan of crossing the 400 seat-mark. The claim of winning 80 out of 80 seats in the state has been shattered too. Besides, the claim of winning by 10 lakh votes in Kashi has been blown to smithereens,” he said.

He said the Congress will take out ‘Aabhar’ (gratitude) yatras across the state and will reach all the 403 assembly seats. Rahul Gandhi began the same from Rae Bareli on Tuesday. This journey will last for 15 days, he added.

On alleged rigging in NEET examination, Rai said students across the country are agitated.

Talking about rising inflation, he said, “Prices of pulses have increased. There is no flour, we will get it imported from outside. The Congress will raise the issue of inflation. The government should provide benefits not to industrialists but to the general public.”

He further said there was a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, and the Lieutenant Governor (Manoj Sinha) was busy campaigning in Varanasi and Ghazipur.

“We condemn it. Many people from UP were among the dead. The government should make such arrangements that such attacks do not recur. BJP had claimed that terrorism has ended but nothing like this has happened,” the Congress leader added.

Taking potshots at the BJP-led Centre, Congress MLA Aradhana Mishra Mona said President Droupadi Murmu, who comes from the tribal community, was not invited to Ayodhya for the ‘pran pratishtha’ programme of Ram temple.

“The saffron party should not do drama and now UP has rejected this politics,” she said.