Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the Vidisha rally.
, one of the BJP's most articulate and senior leaders, asked voters today to grant her a victory with a margin of four lakh votes over her opponent. Her appeal was made in the constituency of Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, just 50 kms from Bhopal, the state capital.
Ms Swaraj won the last election here easily - the Congress candidate's nomination was cancelled at the last minute on a technicality. (
Full coverage: India Votes 2014)
This time, she's up against Laxman Singh, the younger brother of Digvijaya Singh, the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.
The current Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was re-elected for a third consecutive term in December, was joined today at a rally by Ms Swaraj. "At a rally, Sonia Gandhi said Madhya Pradesh has many mafias, and said I am hand-in-glove with them. The real land mafia is Robert Vadra."
The accusation refers to the Congress president's son-in-law, who has been accused of securing sweetheart land deals in Haryana, where the Congress is in power. The state government has denied any wrong-doing. Yesterday,
Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, addressed a rally in Gurgaon, where the opposition says Mr Vadra made a killing. Mr Modi said Rahul Gandhi, Congress vice-president, should furnish an explanation for his brother-in-law's windfall gains.
Neither Rahul Gandhi nor his mother have addressed the Vadra controversy. Today, Mrs Gandhi accused the BJP's presumptive prime minister of lying about her government's track record. "I want to ask you if becoming the PM of this country will be decided on who can speak more lies," she said at a rally in Jharkhand.
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Is someone who speaks lies fit to be PM: Sonia Gandhi's dig at Narendra Modi)