Rahul Gandhi visits flood-hit Uttarakhand

New Delhi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Monday arrived in flood-hit Uttarakhand, where several people were killed and thousands still stranded, to review the rescue operations.

On Monday, Rahul Gandhi along with his mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi had flagged off trucks carrying relief materials to calamity-hit Uttarakhand. Trucks carried food articles, medicines, clothes and blankets for the flood-affected people.

Last week, BJP had questioned why RahulGandhi did not visit flood-hit Uttarakhand. But the fact is that party's top leadership, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, were monitoring the rescue and relief operations in the flood-hit hill state.

"It should not matter who has gone (to flood-hit areas) and who has not. The focus should be on rescue and relief operations. Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi are monitoring the situation. VIP visits hamper relief operations. Sonia Gandhi has not visited Uttarakhand keeping this in mind. She will visit as soon as the situation improves," Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar had told reporters when asked about Rahul Gandhi's absence. The Government and the Congress party are busy battling the massive tragedy.

On June 19, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand on last Wednesday.  Congress President had directed all party MPs and MLAs to donate their one month salary for relief work in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand. She had also directed all party MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to give Rs 10 lakh each from their MPLAD fund for carrying out relief work there.

The Congress party had also set up a PCC control room at Dehradun to accelerate the relief work.

Uttarakhand: Sonia Gandhi flags off trucks carrying relief materials for flood-victims

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Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday flagged off trucks carrying relief materials for Uttarakhand flood victims. Trucks left from the party headquarters in New Delhi. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi also was present during the occasion.

Sonia Gandhi flags off relief material for Uttarakhand floods victims

New Delhi: Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday has flagged off trucks carrying relief materials for Uttarakhand flood victims. Trucks left from the party headquarters in New Delhi. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi also was present during the occasion.

Top Congress leaders were present at the AICC headquarters where Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi flagged off 24 truckloads of relief supplies in addition to the 125 trucks already sent to Dehradun. Besides these two, leaders present on the occasion included Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Road Transport Minister Oscar Fernandes and, political secretary to Congress President Ahmed Patel, AICC General Secretaries Ambika Soni and Ajay Maken.

Sonia Gandhi had on June 19 along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conducted an aerial survey of rain-ravaged areas in Uttarkhand where flash floods have claimed over a thousand lives. So far, 80,000 people have been evacuated but more than 15,000 are still stranded across the state.

Congress President had on Friday directed all party MPs and MLAs to donate their one month salary for relief work in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand as the magnitude of the flash flood tragedy continued to unfold taking the death toll in the rain fury to 1,000.

She  had also directed all party MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to give Rs 10 lakh each from their MPLAD fund for carrying out relief work there," party's communication department in-charge Ajay Maken had told. Congress has currently 203 members in the Lok Sabha and 72 in Rajya Sabha.

The party had also set up a PCC control room at Dehradun to accelerate the relief work. AICC Secretary Sanjay Kapoor and the party's wing Seva Dal's chief Mahendra Joshi have been sent to Dehradun to monitor the work.