As devastating landslides in Kerala's Wayanad claimed the lives of several dozens of people, BJP leader Tejasvi Surya slammed the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha for failing to address the issues of landslides and floods in the district during his tenure as the Wayanad MP.
The Bengaluru South MP said, "In the last 1,800 days since Rahul Gandhi was the MP from Wayanad, he has not raised the issue of landslides and floods even once in the Assembly and in the Parliament."
Surya noted that the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority had in 2020 advised shifting 4,000 families from landslide-prone areas in Wayanad.
"Till today no action was taken and the MP representing Wayanad did not even raise this issue till today. Kerala's Forest Minister in the Assembly admits that they are unable to remove illegal encroachment because they had pressure from various religious organizations," he said in the Lower House.
Speaking to news agency ANI outside the Parliament, the BJP MP said that though there have been some discussions about the natural calamities in Kerala, "no long-term solutions" have been found yet.
"A week ago, the Home Ministry had given a warning to the state government of landslides and asked to evacuate. Nothing was done," he added.
Home Minister Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha said that Kerala was alerted on July 23 and 24 over a possible natural disaster, adding that the state could have minimised losses had it taken Centre's warning seriously.
However, Shah assured full support to the Kerala government from the Centre. He noted that nine battalions of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were dispatched to Kerala on July 23 and three more on July 30.
Notably, Tejasvi Surya's remarks on Rahul Gandhi sparked ruckus in the Lok Sabha, leading to the House being adjourned for a brief period.
Reacting to Surya's remarks, Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said, "It is very unfortunate that someone speaking in Parliament unnecessarily politicises humanity in times of crisis...It is feared that by the time the rescue operation is over we will have lost more than 200 lives...Not everything in our country is politics."
Earlier, the Lok Sabha LoP, Rahul Gandhi, had urged the government to extend all possible help to the people in the landslide-hit Wayanad, asking them to look into the "ecological issue" in the region.
He also urged the Centre to come up with a high-tech solution for preventing such tragedies in the future.
"I think it is very important that we support the people of Wayanad, that we give them as much support as possible and I request the government to help the people of Wayanad in this difficult time," Rahul said.
Rescue operations are continuing in Kerala with the joint efforts of the Indian Army, NDRF, SDRF, Navy and the Air Force. Several hamlets including Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala and Noolpuzha were struck by the landslides that hit Wayanad in the wee hours of Tuesday.
