Offensive personal jibes dominate campaign for Phase IV

High voltage campaigning for the fourth phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, which was marked by offensive personal jibes, came to an end on Tuesday evening in 53 Assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts.

In this phase of polling to be held on Thursday, Assembly segments in Congress President Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency will be among those where the electoral exercise will take place.

However, for the first time since 1998, Sonia gave campaigning a miss in her constituency. Other districts going to polls in this phase are Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur.

Racing against time to reach to the maximum voters, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday held parallel roadshows in Allahabad.

Campaigning for the fourth phase, polling for which will be held on Thursday, saw the leaders make personal attacks at each other.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly targeted the SP- Congress alliance and the BSP, particularly their leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, respectively. Akhilesh and Mayawati hit back at him.