India, May 6 -- After the influx engineered by the BJP from other parties over the last few years, the party's state unit chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Sunday told his workers to "empty out the Congress" by engineering a split in it. After a clip of his speech went viral, Congress leaders reacted sharply, saying that the ruling party needed Congress leaders, as their leaders were incapable of winning elections.

Bawankule, while addressing party leaders and workers in Pune, tried to reassure them that they would not suffer when leaders from other parties joined, as "loyalists" would get preference in election tickets. Congress leader and former Bhor MLA Sangram Thopate recently joined the BJP, leading to unrest within the local party ...