Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma on Sunday mocked Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Imarti Devi for her defeat in the recently-held bypolls in the state. "Imarti Devi jalebi ban gayi," he said.
Responding to a question asked by the media whether former Congress Chief Minister Kamal Nath's 'item' remark was responsible for Congress' defeat in the bypolls, Sajjan Singh Verma said, "If the 'item' comment on Imarti Devi had harmed Congress, why did she suffer a defeat in the election?"
Meanwhile, Sajjan Singh Verma also accused the BJP of resorting to "EVM magicians" to flip the results of the Madhya Pradesh by-elections and remain in power in the state.
"I don't do negative politics. But for the first time, I felt that the BJP was misusing the EVMs in their favour in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. The body language of the people was with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and with Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar," Verma said.
The Congress leader also demanded to conduct elections through ballot papers. "The developed nations like America, Germany and France have stopped using EVMs. Why are we not stopping it? Political parties and political leaders are demanding the same. The day ballot paper elections come back, the BJP will know its place," Verma said.
"Some magicians of the EVM had also approached us during the election. They offered to give us victory on all 28 seats. But we, being from Gandhiji's party, don't want to grab power by deceiving people or using force," he added.
Verma, however, alleged that the BJP took the offer of these "EVM magicians".
Sajjan Singh Verma's comments come in the wake of Congress' poor performance in the Madhya Pradesh bypolls. The BJP won 19 seats out of the 28 Assembly constituencies, while the Congress managed only nine seats.
(With ANI inputs)
