In a war of words on Monday, the ruling AAP in Delhi and the BJP blamed one another for the plight of migrant workers moving en mass to their home states due to the COVID-19-induced lockdown.
Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the currentsituation pertaining to migrants had "exposed" the BJP and it had become clear that they are an anti-poor and pro-rich party.
"BJP is blind towards the massive exodus of poor migrant labourers which is happening across India. These poor migrant labourers are grieving from trauma, hunger, poverty and unemployment," Singh said in a statement.
Singh said the only way to solve this issue was by running more trains. Indian Railways can carry 2,30,00,000 people per day, but the BJP government is not at all serious about the issue, he claimed.
"The BJP government can provide luxury flights for the people who were stuck in other countries but they cannot arrange trains or buses for these poor people," he said.
BJP's Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Bidhuri, however, blamed the AAP for being responsible for the exodus of migrant workers from Delhi.
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Bidhuri alleged that the AAP government had failed to stop migrant workers from leaving Delhi and could not distribute free ration provided by the Centre among the poor.
"Delhi government could not provide the ration to the poor.Union Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan himself said that only 1 per cent of the ration issued by the Centre for April was given by the Delhi government to the poor people," he claimed.
Bidhuri also blamed the AAP government in Delhi for failing to arrange transport for migrant workers to go back to their home states. He claimed that the Central government was paying 85 per cent of the cost for operating the trains for migrants and remaining 15 per cent was borneby concerned states.
"Delhi government has been proved complete failure in sending migrant workers home. Its website for registration of migrant workers was stopped, forcing them to leave for their home states on foot," he said.
Bidhuri also alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party government had failed in tackling the coronavirus epidemic, which he said was one reason for large number of migrant labourers leaving for their homes in different states.