Day after BSP supremo Mayawati said that Narendra Modi is not an “OBC by birth”, the prime minister on Saturday said that “he has only one caste – the caste of the poor of the country”.

Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Robertsganj PM Modi said, “The people of the ‘Mahamilawat’ recently started picking on my caste, I want to tell them that I belong to the caste of the poor of the country.”

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“I provided housing, water facilities, and gas facilities to the poor because I belong to them,” he further said.

Mayawati’s remark came after Narendra Modi’s remark that the SP-BSP ‘mahagathbandhan’ is “casteist”.

“PM’s accusation that ‘mahagathbandhan’ is casteist is laughable and immature. How can those who suffered from casteism be casteist?” Mayawati said in a tweet.

“Entire country knows he isn’t an OBC by birth; he hasn’t suffered from the atrocities of casteism. So he shouldn’t say such lies about ‘mahagathbandhan’,” the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister added.

She further accused the PM of deliberately portraying himself as a member of the backward caste for political advantage.

Read | Mayawati says PM Modi not OBC by birth

Taking a dig at the SP-BSP alliance in UP, PM Modi in Robertsganj said those who in the past wanted to send each other to jail are now making plans to send each other to palaces.

Doubling down his attack on the “hua to hua” remark by Congress leader Sam Pitroda, PM Modi said, “The approach of previous government’s approach to problems has been ‘hua to hua’”.

Pitroda, the in-charge of the Congress’s overseas units, on Thursday, rubbished BJP’s allegation that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place on the orders of former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

“Ab kya hai ’84 ka? Aapne kya kiya 5 saal mein, uski baat kariye. ’84 mein hua to hua. Aapne kya kiya? (What about 1984 now? What have you done in the last five years, talk about that? What happened in 1984, happened. What have you done?),” Pitroda was quoted as saying by ANI.

Elections will be held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Haryana, eights constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand on Sunday in the 6th phase of polling.

Voting is set to take place in eight states and Union Territories – 59 constituencies – in the 7th and final phase of polling on 19 May. 13 seats in UP will go to the polls including the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election.