Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Varun Gandhi has called for strict action against the project head, concerned engineer, and companies responsible for the Bundelkhand Expressway after visuals surfaced showing potholes in the expressway within five days of its inauguration.
Sharing visuals of the potholes, Varun said on Twitter that if an expressway built with a cost of Rs 15,000 can't take even five days of rain, then questions arise over its quality.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 296-km Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh's Jalaun on July 16. Built at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore, the expressway passes through seven districts.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Modi had said the distance from Chitrakoot to Delhi by the Bundelkhand Expressway has been reduced by three-four hours. He further said that its benefit is much more than the reduced time travel. He had also hit out at previous dispensations in UP for the lack of connectivity.
However, potholes within days of inauguration attracted widespread criticism, including from within the BJP.
"Questions arise on its quality if the Expressway built at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore can't even take five days of rain. Its project head, concerned engineers, and the compony responsible should be summoned and strict action should be ensured against them," said BJP MP Varun in a tweet in Hindi.
The portion that caved in has reportedly been repaired. Visuals shared by news organisations show construction equipment at the site of damage.
Opposition parties and figures mocked BJP's "double engine" phrasae to criticise the potholes in the Expressway.
"Double Engine = Double Corruption...Where there is BJP, there is scam," said Nitin Agrawal of Congress.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi also mocked the incident.
The Trinamool Congress also mocked BJP and Modi over the potholes, saying in punny tweet that "when governance is hollow, the fallouts are dangerous".
BJP's Varun Gandhi's tweet on the embarrassment on the Bundelkhand Expressway is the latest in the long line of statements and tweets in which he has taken on his own party's agenda and governments. Earlier, Varun has been vocal on Agnipath, farm laws, and the issue of unemployment, which appear to be against the party line.
The Hindu called Varun 'the rebel within' of BJP in a story last year.
"The question that arises from all of this is whether Feroze Varun Gandhi, one of the inheritors of the Nehru-Gandhi legacy who turned into 'the BJP's Gandhi', is now ready to be his own version of a Gandhi'," wondered Nistula Hebbar in her article in The Hindu.
