Rajnath tweets out BJP Uttarakhand efforts, while taking a dig at Sonia

BJP President R ajnath Singh’s comments on Twitter today where he said that state units should abstain from flagging off relief material convoys because it would “hurt human sensibilities” seemed to be a clear dig at Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s flagging off of relief convoy trucks yesterday.The comments were in line with the BJP’s comments on Tuesday , when they hit back at the Congress for attacking Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s rescue efforts in flood-affected Uttarakhand, saying that no politics should be played on such an issue. [caption id=“attachment_907167” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Rajnath Singh. AFP image[/caption] Reports had claimed that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had personally saved 15,000 pilgrims by deploying a fleet of choppers. The claim has since been rubbished by Congress Ministers including Ajay Maken who dismissed the ‘Rambo’ like intervention as impossible. Modi had also said that he will also donate a sum of Rs 5 lakh for each of the victim families. “As far as the calamity in Uttarakhand is concerned, I would like to say that no political party should do any politics,” said Singh on Tuesday. “If a Chief Minister or any political party wants to help the victims of the Uttarakhand incident then I feel this help should be accepted.” Singh also tweeted today that the BJP has dispatched eight truckloads of relief material and donated Rs56,06,994 as a symbolic gesture.

  On Monday, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had dispatched relief supplies for Uttarakhand flash flood victims. Congress party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary had then also taken a dig at Modi’s earlier visit. Alluding to the report that Modi had rescued 15,000 Gujaratis trapped in flash flood, Chowdhary said Rahul never said he will rescue only people from a particular area. “In times of such tragedies, you cannot be selective about whom do you want to rescue. It’s a very sorry state of affairs if some people engage in such things. During the times of such calamities, it should not matter to which caste or state people belong,” she said. The BJP president’s comments came soon after Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahaguna also requested states to call up his officers before sending in relief material. Bahaguna also mentioned that though relief is pouring in from all states, because the roads have been washed away, he is unable to send the supplies to areas in higher altitudes. “I need help from all states, but please give me liberty to control my relief work,” said Bahaguna. He also defended his decision to return some rescue choppers by saying that bad weather was hampering rescue effort. “We have 44 choppers at our disposal, but because of bad weather we are running only 14 or 15,” Bahuguna told Times Now. “We are storing all relief material in Haridwar. I am unable to send everything higher up. If I am hungry I cannot eat 500 rotis at one go. I need time to distribute relief,” Bahuguna said. CNN-IBN also quoted sources saying that the centre had said that if any state wanted to send choppers or other relief, it should be done via the Uttarakhand government.