As political leaders poured their hearts out for the victims and their kin after the Morbi bridge collapse in Punjab, several opposition leaders on Monday trained their guns at the BJP-ruled Gujarat government over its “negligence,” asking whether the accident was an “act of God” or an “act of fraud.”
Pointing at PM Modi’s criticism of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over an earlier bridge collapse in Kolkata ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took to Twitter and wrote, “Reminds me of the Act of God and Act of fraud speech given by the Prime Minister when a bridge in WB collapsed.”
Also Read | Morbi tragedy: FIR lodged against bridge maintenance and operation agencies
Reminds me of the Act of God and Act of fraud speech given by the Prime Minister when a bridge in WB collapsed.
Not sharing the video because of his sheer insensitivity , just as insensitive&careless as this ⬇️⬇️⬇️ https://t.co/YpM5Xfdjpd— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) October 30, 2022
While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter asking all state unit workers to “extend all possible help”, the party, demanding a “judicial probe,” claimed that the mishap might “be a case of criminal negligence and gross misgovernance”.
Also Read | PM Modi to visit Morbi bridge collapse site on Tuesday: Gujarat CMO
Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, who is in the state campaigning for his party ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, took to Twitter and asked, “Isn’t it a complete failure of the Gujarat Govt Administration? Shouldn’t criminal liability be fixed on the Administrative machinery and the contractor? Would FIR be filed against them?”
Sharing a thread of party colleague Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Singh tweeted, “Here are some of the examples of BJPMODISHAH regime’s “ACT OF FRAUDS”… All these are because the quality of construction is being compromised for “MONEY” gains as Modi ji explained in Kolkata bridge collapse”.
“Of course Modi ji should know as CM Gujarat he built up coterie of favoured Civil Contractors who are now taking contracts all over India in BJP ruled States and in GOI,” wrote Singh in another tweet.
Asking why 500 people were given tickets to get on the bridge when it could support only 100, Youth Congress chief Srinivas BV tweeted in Hindi: “In this way, due to the Act of Fraud of the Government of Gujarat, 141+ lives were drowned in the river. Hundreds are injured. Dozens are missing.”
“There were more than 500 people on the bridge with a capacity of 100 people, not forcibly but by buying tickets”, tweeted Srinivas, asking “Where was the DM? Where was the police? Where was the CMO? How did the bridge open without a fitness certificate?”