UP Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma Lashes Out At Congress, Says '450 Buses Unfit For Plying, 250 Are Fraudulent'

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma also demanded that the Congress Party apologise for misleading authorities and the state government.

Noida: Migrants board a bus at Botanical Garden for railway station, during ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, in Noida, Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi, May 20: Even as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country continues to spike, the political row over migrant seems to be heating up with the Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma lashing out at the Congress and demanding apology from the Congress over the issue. In a press conference UP deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said on Wednesday “Around 257 buses given by the Congress are unfit for plying. All of 450 buses are fraudulent. The Congress Party should apologise for misleading authorities.” Sharma also said that the Congress Party can also send buses to other states in which they are ruling including Punjab. The minister claimed that UP has provided more than 1,000 trains and helped in getting the migrant workers back in the state. It also needs to be seen whether these buses sent by the Congress belong to the party. He also raised finger at Rajasthan government for leaving the UP students only at the border and it was the UP government who took the initiative to get the students back. He criticised the Congress party for diverting the focus from the crucial Covid-19 crises and promoting a political cause. The political row over migrant bus issue had moved to the next level with a case being registered against Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s personal secretary Sandeep Singh on Tuesday. The Lucknow police at Hazratganj police station, registered a case of fraud and forgery against Sandeep Singh, personal secretary to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi. Singh has been booked for furnishing wrong details about the buses arranged by the Congress to carry migrant workers to their destination, according to the news agency IANS. A First Information Report (FIR) filed also names Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Ajay Kumar Lallu. Both have been charged for obstructing work of police and public servants and for misleading the govt and agencies on the issue of providing buses for stranded migrants, according to the news agency ANI. Even as the Congress claimed to offer 1,000 buses to ferry stranded migrant workers to their home towns, the UP state government said that registration numbers of scooters, goods carriers and ambulances were shown as buses. "As per MHA guidelines you need to apply for permission for inter-state bus movement after which pass is issued and permission is granted. They hadn't applied and didn't have a pass. So they were not allowed to enter. He hasn't been arrested," SP rural (west), Agra (UP), Ravi Kumar told news agency ANI. The controversy over migrant buses broke out after Gandhi wrote to UP government alleging that Agra administration was not allowing the buses to enter the city and travel further to Noida/ Ghaziabad. Meanwhile, 879 buses are waiting at the Delhi-UP border and Congress is asking that by 4 PM it should allow them to enter otherwise it will withdraw the buses.