18 people were killed when a section of an under-construction flyover collapsed in Varanasi. (file)
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not visiting his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, after a flyover collapse killed 18 people, the Congress said on Sunday that the leader has "betrayed" the city. The party termed PM Modi a "servant of politics", not of people.
"Modi displays so much passion in the election campaign. Why can't he show concern for people's pain. PM can find time all around the year for election strategy but not even few hours for a tragedy in his constituency. The PM is guilty of betraying his own constituency and alienating his own people in this hour of grief. He is not a servant of people, he is servant of politics," Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said.
Mr Shergill said PM Modi only heard the sound of "clapping", not of the people in pain. "He does not get time to visit his people," he said.
Mr Shergill recalled PM Modi's remarks after a similar incident in West Bengal that the disaster was "God's message" to people to save West Bengal from the ruling Trinamool Congress. He said PM Modi should now "understand if the collapse of portion of the flyover in Varanasi is a message and to whom".
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered strict action against his top officials in connection with the Varanasi flyover collapse earlier this week.
The Chief Minister ordered action against former Managing Director of UP Bridge Corporation Rajan Mittal and six others after a three-member team constituted to probe the lapses leading to the collapse submitted its report.
With inputs from IANS