The war of words between the Congress and the BJP over Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Uttarakhand continued on Tuesday. The Congress claimed that the Gandhi scion did not visit the State just for photo ops, while the BJP accused the ruling party of doing politics over relief measures by refusing help offered by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
“He (Rahul) is not going for photo ops. He is not claiming like Modi that he rescued many people there,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said.
He claimed that Rahul went by road. It is a different matter that TV footage clearly showed Rahul undertaking a chopper ride at Guptkashi.
“The main rescue operations have been completed and even as some operations are going on, Rahul has not taken a helicopter. He is staying there. So there is a difference in the case of Rahul and Modi,” he said and accused the Gujarat Chief Minister of lying about rescuing 15,000 people.
“It is strange that the Army, the Air Force and the paratroopers are all engaged in rescue operations day and night and this man (Modi) comes in and claims he has rescued 15,000 people. Don’t lie so much Mr Modi, the people aren’t that stupid,” Digvijay said.
Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury also expressed similar views. She said that if Modi was so effective in rescuing people, then the Army and State administration should stop all their rescue and relief work and hand it over to Modi who would finish the Herculean task in just a few hours.
However, the two Congress leaders contradicted each other on the issue of use of helicopter by Rahul.
While, Digvijay claimed that the Gandhi scion did not use a chopper, Renuka said that he used it just briefly for a few minutes and later landed.
She also clarified that he did not allow any diversion of security forces and avoided meeting Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna or the Chief Secretary as they were busy with their relief and rescue work.
However, BJP president Rajnath Singh flayed the Congress for politicizing the relief operations by attacking Modi’s rescue efforts and said no politics should be played on such a sensitive issue.
“As far as the calamity in Uttarakhand is concerned, I would like to say that no political party should do any politics. If a Chief Minister or any political party wants to help the victims, then I feel this help should be accepted. Any politics being done on the issue by the Congress is condemnable,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, Rahul met the affected people at Guptkashi and reviewed the relief work. He assured local people, who narrated their tale of woes, that the administration will focus on their problems once all the stranded pilgrims are evacuated. But not satisfied with the relief and rescue operations, people shouted slogans against the Uttarakhand Government over the appalling condition prevailing in the area.