Wary of BJP's assault, Congress flexes its full muscle power in Uttarakhand rescue

The Centre has set up a Cabinet monitoring committee to oversee the rehabilitation programmes

If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to construct a grand Ram temple at Ayodhya, then the Congress is not far behind as it wants to restore the "glory and sanctity" of the battered Kedarnath temple - the highly-revered Hindu shrine in the country -.which would give it a decisive political advantage in the 2014 general elections, Congress sources here said.

Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi are personally monitoring the developments in the aftermath of the deluge last month on a day-to-day basis, as the party doesn't want to give the BJP any ammunition to attack it on the speed of recovery work.

The two leaders were among the first to take aerial survey of the affected areas and pressed the Army and the Air Force to take up the mammoth operations rescuing over 1.10 lakh pilgrims successfully in the Char-dham shrine area.

The seriousness of the operation can be gauged from the fact that not only Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde visited the flood-hit areas, but top army commanders, including chief of the army's central command, Lt Gen Anil Chait, personally monitored the rescue operations from the hills. Army chief Gen Bikram Singh and Air Chief Marshall N A K Brownie also visited the state to boost the morale of their men involved in rescue operations.

The party high-command has also strongly advised Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and senior party leaders not to play politics on the tragedy and tour extensively in the flood-ravaged areas.

The state Congress has asked all the district units to render help in the relief work. PCC president Yashpal Arya, who is also the disaster management minister, is touring the flood-hit areas these days.

After the state government did not show any alacrity in launching the relief and rescue operations in the first two -three days, both the prime minister and the Sonia Gandhi directly intervened and announced a financial aid of Rs 1,000 crore. "The flood tragedy in Uttarakhand was not only restricted to the hill state. Pilgrims came from all four corners of the country. Knowing well that any small mistake will be blown out of proportion, the party high-command took all things in their hands. Thus a mammoth rescue and relief operations was launched on a war-footing," said a senior Congress leader.

The state Congress has also sought help from the National Students' Union of India and Sewa Dal workers in the relief works. In a tactical move, the party has also sent its leaders to all those areas where the state administration has not reached so far. For example, places like Purola in Uttarkashi district and Jaunpur in Tehri districts are being covered by the second rung of Congress leaders. The Congress is sending relief materials to these areas and sought reports from the designated leaders on the relief work. "We are getting all such reports and have started acting on their recommendations also," said Arya.

Congress has also asked the close confidants of Union water resources minister Harish Rawat not to politicise the matter related to the devastation. State assembly speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, who hit the headlines by claiming that more than 10,000 people were killed in the floods has also been asked to remain silent on the issue. Even Rawat, who made an extensive tour of both Garhwal and Kumaon regions distanced himself from the media.

With the image of the chief minister being dented in the wake of the disaster, the centre has also set up a cabinet monitoring committee to oversee the reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes in the hill state. The party high command has also asked the state government not to forget the corruption scandals of the previous BJP government where there had been widespread irregularities in the Rs 500 crore relief aid.

On the other hand, Congress is finding itself on a win-win situation. "Corruption scandals that were plaguing the UPA government took the backseat immediately after the media focused on the deluge caused by floods and cloudbursts. This has already put us in an advantage position," admitted another Congress leader.