Former arch rivals Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav shared a stage after over two decades on Friday. Mayawati, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh had organised the rally to seek votes for Mulayam Singh in Mainpuri parliamentary constituency, which is a Samajwadi Party bastion

Speaking at the rally, Mayawati said Mulayam Singh Yadav is not a “fake OBC” like Narendra Modi, News18 reported. “It is well-known that when he was in power in Gujarat, Narendra Modi misused power to give the OBC status to the upper caste he belongs to,” she claimed. “He also used his OBC tag to get electoral benefit in the 2014 elections and also became the prime minister. But you know that a fake OBC person cannot do any good to backward classes with full dedication and honesty.”

Mayawati said that she was campaigning for Mulayam Singh Yadav despite the guest house case “in the interest of the movement” and called this a “tough decision”. She was referring to an incident in 1995 when the BSP chief was allegedly locked inside a guest house in Lucknow by Samajwadi Party workers and assaulted after she had quit an alliance. A BJP leader had escorted Mayawati out of the guesthouse after her assault in 1995, and the BSP had formed an alliance with the party later.

“In the interest of movement we have to take tough decision,” Mayawati said, according to the Hindustan Times. “We have thus decided and now want to say that Mulayam Singh Yadav had united many in his party. Most people here hold him as his leader.” She added that Mulayam Singh has developed Mainpuri despite his old age and so must be re-elected.

She claimed that the first two phases of the General Elections has made the Bharatiya Janata Party panic, and that the BJP will lose. “All chowkidars will lose power because Narendra Modi in last election had fooled masses by achhe din [good days] slogan,” she said. “Modi has again adopted tactics to mislead the masses.”