"Groom Fled Before Wedding": BJP On Congress' Indore Pick Dropping Out

Taking a dig at the Congress over its Indore Lok Sabha seat candidate withdrawing from the fray at the last moment, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said it was not his party's fault if the "bridegroom fled before the wedding".

The Congress received a jolt in Indore after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on April 29, the last date of withdrawal, and later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The Congress claimed that the BJP did something wrong in Indore. What was our fault? It is like inviting the entire village to the wedding feast and the groom running away before the marriage ceremony," Yadav said at the BJP's campaign rally at Betma near here on Saturday.

The opposition party, which has no candidate left in the fray for the May 13 election in Indore, is insulting democracy by appealing to local voters to press the NOTA (None Of The Above) button, the chief minister said.

"If someone's child runs away from home, whose fault is it? They are your children, you should take care of them," he said.

Yadav also participated in a roadshow in Indore city in support of BJP candidate and sitting MP Shankar Lalwani.

Terming the opposition INDIA bloc as "Ghamandiya" alliance, Yadav evoked the epic Ramayana and the city of Lanka, the capital of its arch-villain Ravan.

"These arrogant people were born in Lanka 17 lakh years ago during the time of Lord Ram. Due to the bankruptcy of their intellect, they posed as fake saffron-clad (monks) to abduct Sita," the chief minister said during the roadshow.

Calling upon the voters to reject the Congress' appeal to opt for NOTA, he said, "Mother Sita made the mistake of crossing the 'Lakshman Rekha,' but the people of Indore should resolve that they will not cross the Lakshman Rekha under any circumstances." Taking a swipe at state Congress president Jitu Patwari, who hails from Indore, Yadav said after suffering defeat at the hands of BJP candidate Madhu Verma in Rau seat in the district in the last year's assembly elections, Patwari was scared of contesting the Lok Sabha election.

On the other hand, even some 80-year-old Congress leaders were contesting the election, he added.

Referring to Congress leaving the Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency to the Samajwadi Party as part of a seat-sharing agreement, Yadav claimed that it showed the Congress was afraid of elections.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)