Lucknow, Feb. 16: Narendra Modi today described himself as Uttar Pradesh's "adopted son", seeking to counter criticism that he was an "outsider" while his rivals Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav were local boys.

Addressing a rally in Barabanki, the Prime Minister repeated the term " UP ka god liya beta (adopted son of UP)" no less than four times in his 30-minute speech. Leaders of the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Congress have pitched the ongoing Assembly polls as a contest between "Apne UP ke ladke (Our own boys of UP)" and " Baahari Narendra Modi (Outsider Narendra Modi)".

Although Modi did not directly refer to the Samajwadi-Congress slogan, his repeated reminder that "UP's adopted son" was doing more work for the "poor" in the heartland was seen as an answer to his rivals. Modi, from Gujarat, is the MP from Varanasi.

"Mayawati in the first two years of her rule (2007 to 2012) had electrified 23 villages. Akhilesh (since 2012) electrified three during his first two years as chief minister. But this adopted son of UP electrified more than 1,350 villages in the state within two years of taking over as Prime Minister," Modi said, turning both his hands towards his chest.

Modi slammed the Congress-Samajwadi tie-up and pointed out that Congress leaders had taken out a yatra a few months ago with the chant " 27 Saal UP Behaal (27 years of misrule in UP)". "What happened all of a sudden that they embraced each other? Ram Manohar Lohia fought all his life against the Congress. But what kind of fear brought the SP and the Congress together?"

Samajwadi leaders call themselves the followers of socialist icon Lohia.

Rahul had led a "Kisan Yatra (farmers' rally)" in September last year with a slogan that referred to "27 years of misrule" by successive state governments. This included Samajwadi rule for around 12 years. The Samajwadi-Congress tie-up was sealed last month.#Around 80km away in Sitapur, Rahul was addressing a rally around the same time as Modi and said the Prime Minister "should stop speaking and start listening to people to understand their woes". "Modiji should listen to the people to learn about their problems. But Modiji's problem is that he only speaks whatever is there in his mind," the Congress vice-president said. He was possibly alluding to Modi's speeches on Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister's radio show broadcast every fortnight.

The radio show was also on the mind of Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh's wife and Kannauj MP, when she addressed a rally in Kanpur. " Akhilesh Yadav mann ki baat nahi karte, balki kaam ki baat karte hain," she said, "Akhilesh believes in work, not words."

In Sitapur, Rahul said: "Recently, I had gone to meet Modiji in his office with the application of two crore farmers of Uttar Pradesh to waive their loans because he has already waived the loan of 50 rich families of the country in last two-and-a-half years."

"I was sitting on the other side of the table," the Congress vice-president recounted, before adding: "Now you see the reaction of Modiji." Rahul then remained silent for a few moments, staring to his left to mimic the Prime Minister. As the crowd giggled, the Congress vice-president said: "He (Modi) didn't utter a single word."