Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the Congress is a ‘B-team’ of the BJP and that there is no difference between the two parties.

Commenting on Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance is controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yadav said, “There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress. The BJP is the Congress; the Congress is the BJP.”

Gandhi had at a rally in Barabanki on Wednesday said that “Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav’s controller is in the hands of Narendra Modi”.

Speaking to ANI, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that only the alliance can fight against the BJP.

“Only SP, BSP and RLD have fought against BJP; only this alliance is stopping BJP,” he said.

Yadav also brushed aside Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s statement that her party fielded weak candidates in some places to eat into BJP votes.

Read More | BJP will lose badly in Uttar Pradesh: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

“I don’t believe that Congress has fielded weak candidates anywhere. No party does it. These are just excuses because they know that the people are not with them,” Yadav said.

He added that the BJP learned how to misuse government machinery from the Congress.

“Congress wants to benefit BJP, which learnt to misuse the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation and other agencies against leaders in opposition from the Congress,” he said, adding that the man who “filed PIL against Netaji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and me was the one who was doing nomination of Congress candidate in Lucknow”.

Countering Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s charge that the “SP’s flag is of hooligans”, Yadav said, “Will he tell me how many flags he has? He has one flag of his ‘math’, one of Hindu Yuva Vahini, and one of the RSS.”

Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats of which polling has been held on 39 in the first four phases of the elections.

Yadav is contesting from Azamgarh, which is one of the 37 seats where SP has fielded candidates. As part of the alliance, the BSP is contesting on 38 seats and their third ally, RLD, on three. The alliance left Amethi and Raebareli for the Congress, which is not part of the alliance.