Lucknow, May 31 (IANS): Drawing a comparison between Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said that while one criticises the country abroad, the other speaks ill about Uttar Pradesh outside the state.

The chief minister's statement came a day after Akhilesh recounted an anecdote of a student mistaking him for Rahul Gandhi.

The chief minister said that there is not much difference between the two leaders.

Wrapping up the debate on the budget in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, Yogi Adityanath said that children are innocent and the student, whom Yadav had referred to, must have said this after some thinking.

"There is not much difference between them (Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav)...while one criticises the country abroad, the other one flays UP outside the state," the chief minister said.

Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav had joined hands to take on BJP in the 2017 assembly polls in UP but they lost.

In the recent elections, Congress had gone alone while Yadav had stitched a coalition with the RLD and other regional parties. While the SP fared much better, it failed to dislodge the BJP.