Sonia Gandhi condoles death of passengers in Odisha train accident

New Delhi (IANS) | United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday condoled the death of several passengers in Odisha’s Balasore train accident and expressed her condolences to the bereaved families. In a statement, the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) president said, “The horrific train accident in Odisha has pained me the most. I express my deepest sympathies and condolences to all the bereaved families.

261 people were killed in a train accident on Friday evening near Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Odisha. More than 900 people have also been injured and many are admitted in hospitals.

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge had informed Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and AICC in-charge A.K. Chella Kumar to immediately visit the accident site in Odisha to take stock of the situation and supervise the relief efforts being carried out by Congress workers and frontal organisations.

Earlier, Gurdeep Singh Sappal, AICC in-charge-administration and coordinator of the Congress President’s office, tweeted, “Resignation is expected in such cases not only on moral grounds.” Resignation is also a means to ensure that those in power and responsible for the accident do not influence such ‘high level enquiry’. That is why it has been established convention that all officers in the chain of command are suspended and ministers resign.

–IANS