MLAs running away because Rahul quit 'sinking ship': Shivraj

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Thursday blamed the uncertainty over the Congress leadership for its legislators deserting it.

Rahul Gandhi quit as Congress president when the party was in trouble, the senior BJP leader said, terming him as "Ranchhod-das" (one who flees the battlefield).

Ten Congress MLAs recently joined the ruling BJP in Goa, while in Karnataka some of Congress MLAs have resigned.

"When a ship sinks, its captain stays on till the end, trying to stop it from sinking. Rahul Gandhi was the first to jump off the Congress' ship," Chouhan said, speaking to reporters here.

"When there is uncertainty over the party president, where would MLAs go? Who would MLAs go to as there is no one to listen to them?" Chouhan said.

"If the Congress is dying, it is because of its sins," he said to a question about the allegation that the BJP was trying to capture power in non-BJP-ruled states by luring away other parties' legislators.

"In Karnataka, (Congress leader) Siddaramaiah is trying to destabilize the HD Kuamraswamy government. Kuamraswamy said many times that Congress was not allowing his government to function smoothly," Chouhan claimed.

"When the party president (Rahul Gandhi) has fled, it is no wonder its MLAs too are running away," he added.

Chouhan was here to attend the BJP's ongoing membership drive.

The BJP vice president also accused the Congress of not fulfilling poll promises in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

"It made tall promises,including farm loan waiver ...But farmers are facing a crisis there as loans were not waived and they are not getting fresh loans for seeds and fertilizers.

"Rahul Gandhi had said if the loans were not waived within ten days of his party coming to power, then the chief minister will be replaced on the 11th day. But now Rahul Gandhi himself has quit and run away," he said.

In Chhattisgarh the Congress had promised to ban liquor, and Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel should explain what happened to that promise as well as the promise of providing unemployment allowance, he said.

Baghel was pursuing vindictive politics, he alleged.

Talking about the BJP's membership drive, Chouhan said "Amit Bhai (BJP president Amit Shah) says the best is yet to come for the BJP. That moment will be when the BJP forms government in the states where it is not in power."