Trucks flagged off by Sonia left stranded, party clueless

Rishikesh (Uttarakhand), June 26: It couldn't be more unbelievable. The fleet of trucks loaded with relief materials for Uttarakhand, which was flagged off by the top Congress leaders amid good publicity on Monday morning from the party headquarters in the national capital, were themselves left stranded here on Wednesday. They were still loaded with the relief goods.

Congress leaders admitted that they were clueless about the location of the trucks. Party spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit said he didn't know anything about the trucks but would pass on the information to Youth Congress members in Rudraprayag.

The drivers of the trucks, meanwhile, alleged that they were asked to continue driving higher in the mountains to an area named Srinagar after they reached Dehradun. But the vehicles ran out of fuel midway and were left stranded. The drivers said nobody from either the Congress party or the government contacted them for further instructions. The drivers also ran out of money to pay for meals and fuels and might start selling the relief goods as the last resort!

The Congress leadership flagged off the trucks after party vice-president Rahul Gandhi returned from his European vacation. It was said to be the party's reply to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who flied into the flood-ravaged state with his officials and reportedly rescued 15,000 Gujarati tourists. While the Congress mocked it as a 'Rambo' act by Modi and a section of the media rubbished it as an absurd act, the BJP dismissed the reports as exaggerated.

The truck episode will certainly cause more embarrassment to the Congress leadership, which has already drawn flak over various issues in the post-disaster situation.

OneIndia News