Cong fears tragedy effect on poll prospects

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Modi at a relief camp in Hardwar. (PTI) New Delhi, June 22: Nature's fury in Uttarakhand has struck alarm in the Congress, which feels the electoral impact of the tragedy would be felt beyond the tiny hill state. Party leaders are agreed that the state's Congress government failed to assess the enormity of the devastation for at least the first three days. Most leaders also believe that chief minister Vijay Bahuguna's lack of grip over the administrative machinery hampered relief and rescue till the Centre took full control, deploying top officials from various ministries and the security forces to salvage the situation. Admitting "lapses" at various levels, a senior Congress leader told The Telegraph: "Reports like the one saying that flood-hit Rudraprayag had no district magistrate for three or four days during this crisis were shocking. We have received serious complaints from the MLAs." The leader added: "When heavy rain started on June 10, people should have been stopped at Rishikesh from going further up. The crisis and its management have definitely thrown up some disturbing questions that we will seek to answer after the rescue operations." Another leader said: "Uttarakhand is Devbhoomi and such a large number of people being affected there is not good news for us politically, either." Several leaders have conveyed this sentiment to the high command and asked for extraordinary measures to upgrade relief, rescue and rehabilitation. "We must show that the Congress cares," a senior leader said, asking for big-bang decisions and efforts to showcase the party's sincerity that the chief minister had failed to do. Realising the gravity of the crisis, the central Congress leadership activated the entire government and party machinery to provide help to those stranded. The Union cabinet and the Congress core committee met to review the situation after the aerial survey by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Never before had the Centre held two media briefings in a day to provide updates on a disaster. The Congress communications department too has been issuing detailed accounts of relief and rescue operations daily, in contrast to the past when even the routine media briefings would be cancelled during crises. Communications chief Ajay Maken has been issuing a statement every evening based on inputs from the control room set up by the AICC in Dehradun. With several MLAs expressing dissatisfaction at the chief minister's handling of the situation, Union home minister Sushil Shinde arrived in Dehradun today to ensure better coordination among the rescue agencies. Congress sources said senior leaders Motilal Vora and Ambika Soni would travel to the hill state tomorrow to coordinate relief measures by the party. Truckloads of relief material collected by party workers will be sent on Monday. The ministries of defence, home, railways, civil aviation, surface transport and finance are working on the crisis under the guidance of the cabinet secretary. Still, one irritant affecting the Congress's perception management has been Rahul Gandhi's absence from the scene. Questions on his whereabouts evoked vague responses today from spokesperson Raj Babbar, who said the Congress president was herself monitoring the situation and had assigned tasks to various leaders. No clear explanation was forthcoming on why Rahul, who reached Chhattisgarh in the middle of the night last month after the Maoist ambush of a Congress convoy, was conspicuous by his absence.