Leaders quitting as Congress is sinking ship: Shahnawaz

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) BJP's national spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain on Friday mocked the Congress by calling it a 'sinking ship' after one of its spokespersons, Priyanka Chaturvedi, quit the grand old party and joined the Shiv Sena.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Hussain said: "Congress is like a sinking ship and that is the reason its leaders are abandoning the party."

The former Union Minister was referring to the resignation of Chaturvedi from the Congress earlier in the day.

Chaturvedi later joined the Shiv Sena in Mumbai in the presence of party chief Udhav Thackrey.

Hitting out at the opposition parties, Hussain said that after the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, it has become clear that there is a Modi wave across the country.

"The opposition parties also know this and that is why the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are holding a joint rally with arch-rivals Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav coming together on one stage," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also said that the SP-BSP-RLD alliance held a joint rally despite allegations that Mulayam Singh Yadav once planned to kill Mayawati.

He also claimed that both the SP and the BSP were corrupt and dynastic parties.

"They are coming together because they are afraid of the Modi wave," he said.

Hussain also took a pot shot at actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who recently joined the Congress.

"While participating in his wife Poonam Sinha's roadshow, Sinha praised Mayawati when the Congress candidate in Lucknow was hoping Sinha him to campaign for him. But he campaigned for the SP leader," Hussain said.