Leaders and party workers belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday staged a protest against the MLAs of the Congress Party who are currently in the city, criticizing their absence from Gujarat at a time when the state has been hit by severe floods.
Calling out to the MLAs for the 'irresponsible act' BJP leader S Prakash launched a valiant attack on the grand old party, alleging that it has 'lost all direction'.
"Lakhs of people have lost their lives, property worth crores of rupees has been destroyed, and the elected representatives are here in a resort. This is very irresponsible on their part. Electing a Rajya Sabha leader should not take more importance than helping one's natives at the time of need. All these leaders should go back," he said.
He further added: "It is the primary duty of a leader to help the people of his constituency, especially at a time like this. This is not the time to stay at a resort."
After six Congress MLAs from Gujarat resigned, the Congress high command swung into action and sent its 44 MLAs to Bengaluru late Friday night. The Congress has alleged that the BJP is indulging in horse-trading to win Rajya Sabha seats from State.
Speaking to the reporters, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. The saffron party is using money power and police to pressurise our MLAs to resign."
Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused the BJP in the state of horse-trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for August 8.
He said, "Crores of rupees have been spent in horse-trading in Gujarat by the BJP. One Congress Gujarat MLA Punabhai Gamit has said he was offered Rs. 10 crore by the BJP to join hands with them."
Following this, Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad laughed off the accusation and said the Congress has become a sinking ship and is not able to hold its own house together.
Meanwhile, heavy rains due to southwest monsoons have wreaked havoc in Gujarat as more than 25,000 people have been evacuated from parts of north and central Gujarat.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani assured on Saturday that the situation with regard to floods in the districts is under control. He said that over 8000 people have been rescued and 70,000 people have been shifted to safer places.
Around 100 people have lost their lives due to the floods so far.
The Golden Katar Division of the Indian Army had released two additional columns on July 26; fully equipped with specialized equipment to bolster the ongoing operations in the flood hit districts, in response to an increased requirement for aerial rescue and relief effort projected by the state government.
There are now a total of five Indian Army Columns engaged in rescuing people in the flood ravaged villages of Gujarat.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)