Amid the exodus of Congress leaders to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, terms like 'garbage' and 'trash bins' have become part of the political discourse as the opposition party is using them to target the turncoats while the ruling party is seen hitting back in the same style.

After a Congress leader termed his party turncoats as garbage, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders also hit back at the Opposition party with the "trash bin" remark.

Senior Congress leader K K Mishra, media advisor to state party chief Jitu Patwari, recently said the BJP has become a dustbin, into which the trash of the Congress is being thrown.

Another senior Congress leader and party's national secretary Satyanarayan Patel last week equated the turncoats with the garbage thrown into dumping grounds.

Asked about the dustbin jibe of Congress leaders, state cabinet minister Prahlad Patel told reporters on Friday, "The Narendra Modi government has put up two-three bins for the garbage, including those for dry, wet and medical waste. Now medical waste is remaining." Reacting to the minister's comment, K K Mishra told PTI that the BJP has finally accepted the truth.

"Finally, the BJP leaders accepted that the selfish turncoats of Congress are garbage. The minister even defined three dustbins for different categories. Now the garbage has to decide which bin they would like to fit in," Mishra said.

Meanwhile, another senior BJP leader Gopal Bhargava, senior most MLA of Madhya Pradesh, described the turncoats as "berries".

"Those from the Congress joining the BJP are like ripe berries (which fall off) when the tree is shaken," Bhargava told reporters.

State BJP spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi, however, said all those joining his party were valuable workers and leaders who believed in the policies of the party and PM Modi.

"Those who joined the BJP are being insulted by the Congress. The Congress leaders are saying that those who were useless are leaving the party. The Congress termed such leaders as selfish, cheat, garbage and said they were leaving the party under pressure. Those who joined the BJP are valuable for the party. They are part of our family," Chaturvedi said.

Senior BJP leader and former minister Narottam Mishra, who is heading the team entrusted with the work of new entrants to the party, had last week claimed that over 16,000 leaders from other parties, mostly from Congress, joined the BJP in the recent times. Those who joined the BJP include the former ministers, MPs, MLAs and other office-bearers, he had said, adding that Madhya Pradesh is moving towards a "Congress-Mukt" status.

Several Lok Sabha seats, including Sidhi, Shahdol (ST), Jabalpur, Mandla (ST), Balaghat and Chhindwara, will go to polls in Madhya Pradesh in the first phase of voting on April 19.

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