New Delhi:
The ruling Congress and the opposition BJP on Monday engaged in a Twitter war over flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari hit out at the BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley for not visiting calamity-hit Uttarakhand.
"H'onble LOP's have mindspace to critique govt proposals on CBI autonomy that are yet to be placed before SC but no time to visit Uttrakhand," he tweeted. Another tweet said, "Did anyone see LOP's in both houses express sympathy/visit disaster hit Uttrakhand This from a party that criticizes visits of. Cong leaders."
Replying to this, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj tweeted, "We did not go to Uttarakhand because Home Minister (Sushilkumar Shinde) made a public statement that our visit will hamper the rescue effort."
Shinde "went to the extent of saying that nobody including himself was allowed to land anywhere," added Swaraj.
Criticising the Government in Uttarakhand for not being "able to rise to the occasion", Swaraj tweeted that it ought to be dismissed for being "inept and incompetent".
"Unfortunately, the Government in Delhi has also failed to provide the requisite leadership," she added.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das told a news agency that he felt pity why "Sushmaji and Arun Jaitleyji", who are "responsible persons", couldn't discharge their responsibility and visited Uttarakhand.
Notably, there was still no clarity over the number of deaths in the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand, with a state minister on Sunday not ruling out an "estimate" of 10,000-plus and Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna putting the number of missing people at 3,000.
The incessant and intense rains that hit the hill state over three days from June 14 triggered flash floods and landslides, leading to hundreds of deaths and resulting in hundreds more going missing.
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Govt assures all help to the displaced in Uttarakhand
We will never know the exact number of dead: Vijay Bahuguna
