Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on 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.