Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday shifted blame for the road accident in Auraiya, in which 26 migrant labourers were killed, on the Congress governments in Punjab and Rajasthan, saying the party is like the proverbial cat that seeks salvation after killing 100 rats.
Speaking to a news channel, Adityanath said, 'In the unfortunate accident that took place in UP's Auraiya, the Congress leadership should understand that one truck (involved in it) was from Rajasthan, while the other was coming from Punjab.'
'A hefty amount of money was taken from the migrant labourers, who were returning to Bihar and Jharkhand. What were they (Congress) doing then? You will exploit people and then put up an honest face.' the chief minister said.
He said the Hindi idiom, '100 chuhe khaakar, billi Haj ko chali (a cat seeking salvation after consuming 100 rats),' fits the Congress today.
'This is the shameful face of the Congress. I condemn the Congress leadership for making fun of the migrant labourers,' the chief minister added.
Twenty-six migrant workers were killed after a trailer truck carrying sacks of lime along with people rammed into a stationary truck with many migrant workers sitting in it, near a roadside eatery on the national highway in Auraiya on Saturday.
Adityanath said for the last three days, he has been asking the Congress to provide a list of the 1,000 buses that the party says have been kept ready to ferry migrants.
'I am yet to get the list. I would like to tell the Congress leaders that during this pandemic, they should not do petty politics. The need of the hour is sympathy and sensitivity towards the migrant labourers,' he added.
The chief minister said along with the list of the 1,000 buses, if a list of the migrant labourers is also provided, 'we will definitely permit them (to come to Uttar Pradesh)'.
'We have already told them that the list should be provided to us, so that we are assured that all the migrants are from Uttar Pradesh and we can safely take them to their respective destinations. We would be happy to do so, but in the last three days, we have not got any list of the buses,' he said.
The remarks of the chief minister come a day after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged him to allow her party to ferry migrant labourers back home in buses arranged by it and kept ready at the state border.
She made the appeal in a video message posted on Twitter.