Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday alleged that since the Madhya Pradesh BJP's leadership was "hopeless and inefficient", Union Home Minister Amit Shah had to visit the state and get involved in the party work ahead of the assembly elections.?

He also said that Shah's visit to the state proves the inefficiency of the chief ministers during the Bharatiya Janata Party's 20-year rule in the state.?Shah on Sunday kicked off the ruling BJP's campaign for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, due later this year, by addressing party workers in Indore.?

It was Shah's third visit to the state this month. Earlier, he reviewed the party's preparedness for the assembly elections twice in Bhopal. "The state leadership of the BJP is so lifeless, hopeless and inefficient that Shah has to come to the state (in view of the next assembly elections)," Singh said in reply to a question about the Union minister's frequent visits to the poll-bound state.

The Congress's Rajya Sabha member, who was the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh between 1993 and 2003, said Shah's extensive activity in the state proves how inefficiently BJP chief ministers have run the state during the last 20 years. State Congress President Kamal Nath, however, termed Shah's visits to the state a normal occurrence during the elections.

"Shah should enjoy coming (to Madhya Pradesh). It is his wish. Elections are approaching. In view of the elections, all leaders keep visiting," he said. Shah, during his address to party workers in Indore, repeatedly used terms like "Mr Bantadhar" and "corruption Nath", which are viewed as swipes at Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath, respectively.

Notably, the BJP had used the term "Mr Bantadhar" against the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya Singh, in the campaign led by Uma Bharti during the 2003 assembly elections. Kamal Nath was termed as the corruption Nath in posters with his picture put up by unidentified people in MP last month.