Cong defends Rahul’s absence in U’khand, says will visit as party’s V-P not VIP

Referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visiting Uttarakhand after the tragedy, party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said, ‘Rahul Gandhi is certainly not going as a VIP. He is going there as vice president of the party.’

Asked about the of non-preparedness of the state administration and about the absence of Rahul Gandhi, for such a long duration and what was the urgency that he could not cancel his programme, Chowdhary said, ‘No one had predicted for this sort of tragedies but what is important is that relief measures are going on. There has been a tremendous progress in this time and great importance has been given to this task and everything is being done for rescue measures. We should not peep into the privacy of individuals. Vice president is sitting there and overseeing the relief work. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have already visited the affected areas. The congress party works like a team and it is not necessary that everyone from the party should visit the affected areas in one go. It would be better to visit such areas turn by turn. That is more important.’