Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for the incident in which eight cops were killed in an ambush.

The incident took place when a police team had gone to raid history-sheeter Vikas Dubey's house in Kanpur and were fired upon by criminals.

The former union minister also questioned the police's decision to go after the criminal in his own backyard after sunset.

"It is difficult to believe that a trained police force will go after sunset to arrest a notorious criminal in his bastion. The tragedy was foretold. I offer my condolences to the families of the unfortunate victims," tweeted Chidambaram.

He further took a stinging swipe at the BJP government stating that Uttar Pradesh has become "backward" in every respect.

"UP is so backward in every respect that those who rule UP must hang their heads in shame. Congress was last in the government in UP in 1985-1989, that is 30 years ago. The BJP cannot blame the Congress and is wondering who can be blamed," said Chidamabaram in another tweet.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday paid floral tributes to the policemen who lost their lives in the encounter at Bikaru village in the district, at the police line, and announced Rs 1 crore each ex-gratia for their families.