Amid a war of words between the Congress and the UP government over plying of buses for migrants, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has asked Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to not play the "worst politics" over labourers.
He also asked her to visit Madhya Pradesh to "learn" about how labourers can be helped.
Hitting back, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath on Wednesday termed Chouhan's claims on well-being of migrant labourers in Madhya Pradesh as a "joke and bunch of lies".
Posting a series of tweets on Tuesday late night, Chouhan claimed that his government had made very "effective arrangements" for the migrant labourers in transit.
"Priyanka ji, if you really want to help the workers, come to Madhya Pradesh. See our arrangements here and learn, which will help you. You will not find any workers hungry, thirsty or walking on the land of Madhya Pradesh. We have made effective arrangements," Chouhan tweeted.
In another tweet, Chouhan asked Gandhi Vadra to not use workers for "your worst kind of politics during the time of the COVID crisis".
"'Unki hai lagegi' (This will draw their curse). Along with them, this country and the world are also clearly seeing the difference between your words and deeds. Don't deceive but serve which is true politics," he said in another tweet.
Reacting to the tweets on Wednesday, state Congress unit president Kamal Nath said Chouhan speaks a bunch of lies anyway.
"Shivraj ji, speak a lot of lies, but at least do not joke in the name of the labourers. You are talking about arrangements (for labourers) in Madhya Pradesh. Such a big lie. At least have some shame to not joke in the name of the workers," Nath said.
He accused Chouhan of misrepresenting the ground situation about the migrants' crisis.
"Even today, all major roads and borders of the state are filled with thousands of migrant workers..some are walking barefoot with wounds on their feet while some are travelling on hand carts, bicycles, autos, trucks in a bid to return their homes," Nath said in a statement.
Underlining the plight of migrant labourers, Nath stated that many died in accidents or due to starvation.
"A fraud in the name of buses has come to the light in Madhya Pradesh. The ground reality is contrary to the number of claims being made by the state government," he said.
The Congress and the Uttar Pradesh government are locked in a war of words since Gandhi Vadra told chief minister Adityanath that the Congress had made available 1,000-odd buses to safely ferry migrants to their homes.
However, the Yogi government claimed that a list of 1,000 buses contained registration numbers of autorickshaws, cars and trucks.
On Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and Gandhi Vadra's secretary were booked by the police for 'forgery'
