Rahul jumped "sinking" Congress ship instead of saving it: Shivraj

"You would not know today who president of Congress is"

PTI6_1_2019_000050B Congress president Rahul Gandhi | PTI

BJP vice president Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a dig at Rahul Gandhi Wednesday, saying he was the first to jump out of a "sinking" Congress ship instead of trying to save it till the end.

"You would not know today who president of Congress is. We heard that when any ship is sinking, it's the captain who stays on till the end to save. But, the captain is the one who jumped first from Congress' ship," he told reporters here.

Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor BJP president Amit Shah were resting on their laurels after the party's massive victory in Lok Sabha polls, he said.

Chouhan, who is BJP's membership pramukh (convener), said the party would soon launch its membership drive.

The opposition parties were in a bad state with the SP and BSP "splitting" in Uttar Pradesh and Gandhi "jumping the ship", he claimed.

The BJP's target was to form the government after the next Assembly elections in Telangana in 2023, Chouhan said.

Asked about the "debate" on the stability of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, he noted that it had been formed with the support of the SP, BSP and independents.

Law and order had deteriorated in Madhya Pradesh, where the secretariat has become an "adda" of brokers, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister alleged.