The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday strongly criticised the flagging off of relief convoy by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for calamity stricken people in Uttarakhand, terming it as a cheap publicity stunt aimed at reaping electoral benefits.
“The way senior leaders of the Congress have flagged off relief convoy has ashamed the humanity. In a calamity in which thousands of people have been killed and thousands others are still trapped in hard circumstances, instead of helping the people the Congress party is trying to get electoral mileage by distributing relief material,” said BJP State president Narendra Singh Tomar in a statement on Monday.
“The whole event has raised questions on the sensitiveness of the Congress-led UPA Government. The Government has smeared salt on the wounds of those who have suffered losses in the calamity,” he said.
Tomar further said that the Congress was using the opportunity to project a favourable image of Rahul Gandhi that was highly deplorable for a healthy democracy.
The relief material was meant for the people who have a right to it and it is not a matter of charity as the government has no right to it and Congress should avoid indulging in cheap politics over the matter, he added.
Tomar demanded that the calamity in Uttarakhand should be declared as national calamity by the Centre. “The leaders of Congress and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand did not take any step immediately after the floods to provide relief. But when support started pouring in from different quarters, the Congress awoke from its deep slumber and now it trying to take credit for the relief measures,” he alleged.