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 Rahul Gandhi 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.