Uttarakhand floods: Now, Shivraj Singh Chouhan takes a dig at Narendra Modi?

New Delhi: In what could stir up a controversy, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said on Monday that no one should indulge in politics in times of disaster and that everyone should get together to rebuild Uttarakhand, ravaged by massive floods.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted today, "Apart from rescuing pilgrims from MP, our rescue teams have rescued 1810 pilgrims from various states without any discrimination." In another post he said, "I would re-emphasise the fact that there shouldn't be any politics in such a disaster. We all should work together to rebuild Uttarakhand."

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been in the line fire for apparently claiming to have saved 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand which has been devastated by massive floods and incessant rains. The Congress hit back at his so-called 'Rambo' act and accused him of taking political mileage in times of disaster.

BJP ally Shiv Sena too had slammed Narendra Modi over his so-called rescue efforts, calling it 'parochial' and had said that a man who was being touted as the next PM of India should not only be seen to be thinking of the people of Gujarat.

However, it did a U-turn later on and downplayed the whole issue, saying the criticism was for Modi's propaganda folks''.

The BJP too made it clear that Narendra Modi had never claimed that he had rescued 15,000 people of Gujarat from the hill state.

Now, the latest tweet by the Madhya Pradesh CM regarding the rescue efforts in Uttarakhand may be seen as a veiled attack on the Gujarat CM.

To be noted is the fact that Chouhan is also talked about in certain sections as one of the potential prime ministerial candidate of the Bhartiya Janata Party. Not too long ago, party patriarch LK Advani, while comparing Modi to Chouhan had said that the MP CM deserved to get more credit for the developmental work than his counterpart from Gujarat. Advani had said that Chouhan had attempted to turn around a state that was under-developed, unlike Gujarat which was already developed when Modi had taken over.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had also made a veiled attack on Narendra Modi last week on the issue of rescuing Uttarakhand victims from his state alone, saying no politician should be parochial in his approach while saving lives of the stranded people.

He was quoted as saying – "If one is a national leader, he/she should be concerned with every part of the country."