If Congress actually has 1,000 buses, it should send them to Lucknow: Mayawati

If the Congress has buses, it should send them to Lucknow, where a large number of people are waiting to go home, BSP president Mayawati said on Tuesday, amid a war of words over Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's offer of 1,000 buses to ferry migrants.

Earlier, hours after the Uttar Pradesh government asked the Congress to provide the buses to the district magistrates of Ghaziabad and Noida, a fresh argument broke out between them over claims that the list submitted by the party contained registration numbers of ambulances, three-wheelers and cars.

Read: Priyanka Gandhi's office accuses UP govt of playing politics over Congress' offer to provide buses for migrants

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the Mayawati said, "The BSP wants to say that if the Congress party actually has 1,000 buses, there should be no delay in sending them to Lucknow because migrant labourers in large numbers are eagerly waiting here to go home."

On Monday night, the UP government had asked the Congress to send the buses to Lucknow, drawing a sharp reaction from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's private secretary, who recalled that the party had sought permission to run 500 buses from the Ghazipur border in Ghaziabad and 500 from the Noida border, where a large number of migrants had gathered. He also questioned the relevance of bringing the empty buses to Lucknow.

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The BSP president, in another tweet on Tuesday, appealed to the central government to take positive steps to send migrant workers home safely by buses and trains at its expense, keeping in mind the economic condition of the states and for the sake of humanity.

"It is also necessary to ask the state governments to make proper arrangements for food and lodging of migrants in their respective states and send them home in buses and trains," she said in another tweet.