Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to target the Congress while at the same time shielding former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna from an embarrassment when he shifted the onus of refusal of his offer to reconstruct Kedarnath after the disaster of 2013 on the Congress high command. Bahuguna was Chief Minister of the Congress Government of Uttarakhand at that time when Modi as the CM of Gujarat had offered help to reconstruct Kedarnath ravaged by the disaster triggered by a deluge in 2013.
Modi said that he was so much moved by the scale of the disaster that he offered help of Gujarat in reconstruction of Kedarnath temple. He said that then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and senior officers of the State accepted the offer. However when the news of the offer was flashed on TV Channels, the central leadership of Congress swung into action as it abhorred the idea of a BJP ruled state helping Congress Governed State and under pressure of which the Uttarakhand Government rejected the offer, he said. The PM added that it was his destiny that the grand reconstruction work in Kedarnath would start during his term.
It is worth mentioning here that the Modi in his address at Parade Ground in Dehradun during the campaign for assembly elections early this year had attacked the Congress Government for scam in disaster relief works. It boomeranged on BJP as Congress leaders pointed out that the Vijay Bahuguna was Chief Minister of state during the time of disaster of 2013. It embarrassed both BJP and Bahuguna as the former CM had defected to BJP in May 2016. On Friday at Kedarnath, the PM attacked the Congress on refusal of his help in 2013 but cleverly saved Bahuguna by stating that he was under pressure from central leadership of Congress on the issue. When contacted by a News channel which asked him whether he was under pressure at that time, former CM Bahuguna refused to comment on the issue.