Rahul Gandhi visits Dehradun to take stock of rescue work despite Shinde's plea

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday visited Dehradun to take stock of rescue work even as Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde advised politicians against visiting Uttarakhand, seeking to contain the opposition’s criticism for remaining absent from the country for a week after the calamity struck in the state.

Earlier in the day, along with his mother, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he flagged off 24 trucks carrying clothes, medicines, packaged food and candles for Uttarakhand. The Congress, which has been at the receiving end of the main opposition BJP’s onslaught over the Gandhi scion’s overseas trip, went all out to defend him.

Brushing aside criticism that Gandhi’s visit hampered relief measures, party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said, “He is not going as a VIP. He is going as a common citizen, as vice-president of the party. He is going to work for the people there.” Drawing a contrast with Gujarat CM’s trip, she said, “There is a difference. Rahul is not beating his chest that ‘I am Rambo.

I am saving people’. Which 15,000 people has he (Modi) saved? If he wanted to save lives, he should have saved in Godhra.” The BJP retaliated by saying the Congress had developed a phobia over Modi. “The Congress is scared of Narendra Modi and sees him everywhere. They have developed Modiphobia,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

To a question about Modi rescuing only Gujaratis, he said the other chief ministers were also focusing on people from their states. “He is doing what others are doing,” Javadekar said. Javadekar also said the prime minister should break his silence on the issue and address the nation. “I am surprised that our prime minister has not spoken on Uttarakhand.

In the US, even if a shootout happens, the President addresses the nation,” he said. The BJP leader sought a ‘Lessons Learnt Commission’, saying the debate should focus on the preparedness for such a calamity in future. “Shinde was talking about lesser VIP movements in Uttarakhand. Now what will he say when Rahulji visits the state?” Javadekar asked. But the Congress insisted no security would be diverted because of Gandhi’s visit.

As political sparring over Uttarakhand got shriller, BJP leader Varun Gandhi shot off a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, suggesting a cohesive approach by Parliament for relief measures in the flood-hit state.