The Samajwadi Party and its alliance Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark that the Samajwadi Party has a tacit understanding with the Congress and was leaving Mayawati in the dark.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused Modi of trying to mislead the people after finding out that his Bharatiya Janata Party is “lagging behind after the first four phases of Lok Sabha elections”, ANI reported. “Their [BJP] arithmetic has gone wrong,” Yadav said. “They know they will not be able to form the government. The BJP can see no other way. They are not talking about development or farmers income.”

Akhilesh Yadav said that Modi represents only 1% of the entire population. “He [PM Modi] is a 180 degree prime minister, he does just the opposite of whatever he says,” Yadav said.

Mayawati claimed that her alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal had the support of the public. “He [Modi] is trying to create differences between SP and BSP,” News18 quoted her as saying. “The whole country knows that we have not, nor we will have any sort of alliance with the Congress.”

The BSP chief claimed the BJP will lose the election. “The BJP is trying to break the coalition. BJP and Modi are trying to divide the SP-BSP to save himself and his reputation,” she said.

At a rally in Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, Modi had said that the Samajwadi Party was going soft on the Congress. “They have been shrewd with her and kept her in the dark about their intentions. They even promised to make her the prime minister. Now, Mayawati has realised their ploy and openly criticizes the Congress,” Modi had said.

The prime minister’s comments came a day after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi met Samajwadi Party workers in Raebareli. Last week, Gandhi had said said that Congress has fielded candidates in Uttar Pradesh that would cut into the BJP’s votes. “We have carefully chosen candidates so that either Congress wins or they cut into BJP’s votes,” Gandhi had told reporters. “Congress is not at all cutting into votes of the ‘UP gathbandhan’.”