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The Conservatives are as "irrelevant" in Scotland as the SNP are south of the border, the Lib Dem leader has said.Nick Clegg said voters in Scotland had to choose between his party and Labour.
He told BBC Radio Scotland that Labour assumed it could "take Scotland for granted", while the Liberal Democrats offered "something different".
Mr Clegg also attacked the SNP, claiming it was trying to stop the final Leaders' Debate being aired on TV in Scotland because it was excluded.
Mr Clegg, whose popularity has soared since the first of three televised debates was broadcast, was at a press briefing in Edinburgh on Monday.
He set out the ideological differences between his party and both Labour and the Conservatives, insisting he would fight for "progressive, liberal principles".
He told BBC Scotland' Good Morning Scotland programme: "If you look at choice before the people of Scotland at this general election, it basically comes down to a choice between Labour and the Lib Dems.
"The Conservatives are as irrelevant north of the border as the SNP is not really in the game south of the border."
"So I think the choice for this Westminster election is either the Labour Party carrying on, assuming it can take Scotland for granted and that it somehow owns Scotland, when it doesn't.
"Or to vote for the Liberal Democrats, because we offer something different to Labour."
Meanwhile, the Lib Dem leader also criticised the SNP's plan to take legal action over the leaders' debates.
The SNP said its proposed action would seek to ensure that the debate was broadcast in Scotland "with the nation's political make-up fairly reflected".
Unfair and undemocratic
Mr Clegg, who visited the Lady Haig poppy factory in Edinburgh on Monday, described it as "a measure of desperation on Alex Salmond's part".
"I find it truly extraordinary that Alex Salmond wants to go to court to force people who might want to follow this week's debate on the economy, to go online to look at a debate that has set the general election alight around the country.
"What on earth is he trying to do, cut people off?"
However, while answering questions on BBC Scotland's Kaye Adams show, Mr Salmond said: "We are not trying to stop the BBC debate.
"What we are doing in going to court is to try to get to participate in it. Because that is fair and that is democratic, just as it is unfair and undemocratic not to be allowed to participate."
He added that it would be "entirely satisfactory" to be allowed to participate in a fourth TV debate programme featuring the leaders of the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.