Bravado aside, it was the realisation that the Rahul Gandhi-Akhilesh Yadav press conference on the last day of campaigning would get no eyeballs amid PM Narendra Modi’s Varanasi roadshow that led to its cancellation.

But what happened before the cancellation is interesting. A message was sent out by the Congress’s media department about the press conference. The strategists of the Samajwadi Party were alarmed when they heard of this and asked a few journalists to send screenshots of the invite. As expected, the press conference was cancelled. The Congress, however, insists that Rahul was ready, but the Prime Minister’s Office didn't allow landing permission, and Akhilesh was busy as well.

A BJP leader had this to say about the episode: “They should have realised that no one would show up at the press conference. So why this lame excuse now?”