Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday once again urged the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government to allow the buses arranged by the grand old party to carry migrant workers to their homes.
"Our migrant brothers and sisters have been walking back home in terrible weather conditions, in the sun without any food. They are coming from different parts of the country," she said.
"Some of our sisters are pregnant and yet they are having to walk. Some of them are carrying their kids, too," Priyanka said.
"Our buses have been waiting since yesterday. Please put your flags atop them if you want to but let them ferry migrant labourers," she added.
"Those, walking today on the streets and facing difficulties, are the ones who have made the nation. We all have a responsibility towards them. It’s not a time to do politics but to help them," she said.
The Congress party and Uttar Pradesh government have been locked in a pitched battle over 1,000 buses the former had offered to run for migrant labourers. While Congress has alleged that the Yogi government is keeping the buses parked at borders by not allowing them to enter the state, the latter has questioned the grand old party' intention, saying the vehicles are not up to the mark and some of them are autos, ambulances and trucks.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Priyanka had even urged the Yogi government to at least allow 879, the information of which was found to be accurate, to carry migrant labourers home. In another tweet, she said her party will arrange for another 200 buses the following day.
Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu was arrested after he sat on a dharna demanding the Yogi Adityanath government grant permission to the buses arranged by his party to ferry migrant labourers to their homes, police said.
On Tuesday, Lallu and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's secretary were also booked by the police.
