Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Samajwadi Party chief on Saturday traded barbs over the Saryu canal project, with the opposition leader calling the BJP government "kainchijivi" and the PM saying he might have cut its ribbon in "childhood".

The PM inaugurated the Saryu Canal National Project in Uttar Pradesh's Balrampur on Saturday, hours after Yadav claimed that it was his government that had competed three-fourth of its work and the BJP only cuts ribbons of projects initiated by them.

"The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh took five years to complete the remaining work of the Saryu Nahar National Project," Akhilesh tweeted in Hindi, hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's arrival to inaugurate the project.

"There are basically two types of people in the world, some who really work and some who appropriate others' work. This is the difference between the government of the SP and today's 'kainchijivi' (ribbon cutting) government. That's why in the 2022 elections, the BJP is going to be completely wiped out," Akhilesh said in another tweet.

Later at a rally, the PM without taking Yadav's name said he was waiting that someone will claim credit for the project.

"When I started from Delhi, I was waiting for someone to say that he had cut the ribbon of this project and started this scheme. This is the habit of some people. Maybe in their childhood they had cut its ribbon," he said, without taking any name.

"For some people cutting ribbon is a priority while for us completing schemes in time is the priority. In 2014, when I came to power, I was amazed to see that 99 irrigation projects were lying (incomplete) for decades in the country," he said.

The project will provide water for irrigation of 14 lakh hectares, benefiting around 29 lakh farmers.