Rahul Gandhi visits Uttarakhand

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited the flood and landslide-hit Uttarakhand today over a week after the Nature’s fury devastated the hill state. He reached Gauchar from where he headed for Guptakashi to monitor the relief works.

Rahul met the survivors at the relief camps today. However, his visit triggered another controversy. The question was raised over Rahul’s visit by chopper, as Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had strictly said that no VVIPs will be allowed to land their choppers when the rescue operations were on.

Earlier, Rahul’s absence from the tragedy-hit state had sparked criticism from the opposition. While Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi succeeded to rescue 15000 Gujaratis in the state, the Gandhi scion was out of the country.

His visit to Uttarakhand brought a little relief to the party, which has been defending Rahul on the question over his absence at the time of crisis.

The political war began between Congress and BJP after Modi expressed his concern for the victims and his visit to Uttarakhand. Congress did not spare a chance to criticise his role at the time of tragedy calling him “Rambo”. Instead of appreciating his effort in rescue process, the ruling party at Centre directed the state government not to allow other states unilaterally make rescue efforts in disaster-hit areas.

On the other hand, fresh landslides and bad weather hampered the rescue operations in the state. The death toll reached over 10 thousand and more than 20 thousand people are still stranded at different parts of the state.