Country has seen biggest failure of Congress in Uttarakhand tragedy: BJP

NEW DELHI: The war of words between BJP and Congress over the Uttarakhand tragedy intensified today with the main opposition party claiming that the country has witnessed the "biggest failure" of the Centre and the Vijay Bahuguna government in dealing with the situation.

"The Congress leaders are trying to divert attention of the people from their failures. They are engaged in a politics of preaching others and concerned only with pointing fingers. In Uttarakhand, the biggest tragedy took place and we saw the biggest failure in dealing with it," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.

At the same time, BJP underlined that it does not believe in playing politics over a tragedy.

The two parties have sparred over the visit of its leaders -- Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi -- to the hill state.

Rescue efforts have also been a matter of contention with BJP charging that the Centre and the Vijay Bahuguna government in Uttarakhand had not taken requisite efforts. Congress has struck back mainly citing the exaggerated claims made by BJP on the people rescued by Modi's team.

"We are concerned only about the tragedy and on how to alleviate the sufferings of the victims which is a duty for us. We wish to show the mirror to the Congress on its failures," Hussain said.

Countering the Congress allegations that BJP has not done much in Uttarakhand, Hussain claimed that Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was the first to raise an alarm about the magnitude of the tragedy in Uttarakhand.

"She had talked to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde about the floods and asked him to wake up to the tragedy," Hussain said. BJP President Rajnath Singh had done an aerial survey of the flood and landslide affected regions, he added.

Sushma Swaraj had tweeted yesterday demanding that the Uttarakhand government should be dismissed for being inept and incompetent in handling the crisis in the state.

Hussain said this is the official line of the party and there is no dilution in the BJP stand.

BJP has maintained that its top leaders did not go to Uttarakhand after an advisory from the Home Minister that visits will hamper the rescue and relief operations. However, the party leaders as well as its chief ministers were in touch with local leaders and the people and made all efforts to help the victims, Hussain said.

"Swaraj and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley were in touch with our local leaders. Our chief ministers talked to the victims," he said.

BJP also took digs at Rahul Gandhi without naming him. "The biggest VIP of the country went there (Uttarakhand) while our leaders were stopped," Hussain said.