Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday asserted that an INDIA bloc storm was arriving in Uttar Pradesh and the ruling BJP was going to face its worst-ever defeat on June 4, the day votes are counted after the conclusion of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls on June 1.

He claimed the INDIA bloc would win more than 50 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Gandhi was addressing a joint rally with Akhilesh Yadav in Kannauj, where the Samajwadi Party chief is contesting the Lok Sabha polls. The two leaders addressed another public meeting in Kanpur, 80 km away.

In Kannauj, Gandhi called Akhilesh his “brother” who was on way to a historic win and predicted Narendra Modi was not going to be the prime minister again on June 4.

“(On) June 4, 2024, Narendra Modi will not be the prime minister of India, you take it in writing (from me),” Gandhi said.

“Whatever we had to do, we have done. Now, you will see that in Uttar Pradesh, our alliance is going to get not less than 50 seats. We have stopped the BJP in other states,” he said.

The Congress and the Samajwadi Party, both constituents of the INDIA bloc, are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav is contesting from Kannauj and Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, besides Wayanad in Kerala.

“The INDIA alliance and Akhilesh Yadav are going to win big here,” Gandhi said in Kannauj.

“A storm of the INDIA alliance is arriving in U.P, and the BJP is going to face its biggest defeat in the country, here in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

He said Uttar Pradesh, which paves the way for the country, has made up its mind for a change.

“The public has made up its mind,” he emphasised.

Attacking Modi, he said the prime minister did not take the names of Adani and Ambani in the last 10 years but did so a few days ago.

“He took the names of his friends only when he realized INDIA alliance has cornered him; he wants to save himself because he is losing,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi further said the prime minister had questioned whether Ambani-Adani had sent tempo loads of black money and added that the prime minister has personal experience of the tempo.

“The PM has said they (Ambani-Adani) give black money, why hasn’t he sent the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after them?”

Modi had made the remarks at a rally in Telangana on May 8.

“Since his Rafale issue got grounded, he started chanting about ‘five industrialists’. Then he started saying Ambani-Adani. But ever since elections have been announced, these people (Congress) have stopped abusing Ambani-Adani. I want to ask from Telangana soil, let the shehzada announce, how much has been lifted from Ambani-Adani? Has tempo loads of money reached the Congress?” Modi had said, referring to Rahul Gandhi as prince.

For his part, Rahul Gandhi on Friday also claimed that now, the BJP, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will attempt to divert “your attention”.

“For the next 10-15 days, they will try to divert your attention...Don’t get distracted,” he said, adding there is just one issue in the general elections in India.

All issues arise out of it - the Constitution of India, which the BJP wants to change, he added.

“Akhilesh and I have decided that no matter what, we will not allow the Constitution of India to be touched,” he further said.

In Kanpur, Gandhi said the Modi government ruined the small and medium-scale businesses with GST and demonetisation.

Ask anyone, they would say the Modi government finished their businesses, he said.

In Kannauj, Akhilesh Yadav was emotional and remembered the legacy of his father Samajwadi Party founder, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, and his own association with the district. Akhilesh Yadav had made his electoral debut in Kannauj in the year 2000 when he won a Lok Sabha by-election from the constituency. He retained the seat in 2004 and 2009 but vacated it in 2012 on being sworn in as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

“Whether I contested from Kannauj or not, I never left the people of Kannauj,” Akhilesh said, exhorting the people to wash way the BJP with the votes like they (BJP workers) allegedly washed a temple premises after his visit in Kannauj recently.

He said the farmers, youths and women all want a change from the “misrule of the BJP”, which only made false promises and lied to them at every step.

The fourth phase of this election was going to be decisive and people were all set to disturb the balance of the BJP, which was sliding fast, he said.

Both Kannauj and Kanpur will go to the polls in the fourth phase on May 13.