Soon after Congress replaced its candidate from the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat Narendra Rawat with party's general secretary Madhusudan Mistry against Narendra Modi, BJP today accused the ruling party of "dishonouring" Dalits and "killing" intra-party democracy.

BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said, "It is a dishonour to the Dalit community to replace Rawat (a Dalit) from Vadodara, from where BJP's prime ministerial candidate Modi is contesting."

Rawat, who was elected in the party primaries to contest from Vadodara, expressed his inability to face the fight against Modi whose candidature was announced later.

Lekhi said that by replacing Rawat the Congress has "killed" the party's internal democracy, an issue promoted by party vice president Rahul Gandhi.