A Congress MLA in Punjab stirred up a row on Monday after he allegedly distributed a pamphlet among migrant labourers who had come to board a special train to Bihar at Bhatinda railway station. The pamphlet, handed to each passenger by MLA Amarinder Raja Warring, claimed Congress president Sonia Gandhi had paid for their tickets.
The legislator, with a group of his supporters, had reached the station to see off the migrants who were heading to Muzaffarpur.
A video that has surfaced on social media showed Warring distributing the flyers to each migrant passenger and telling them that it was the Congress party which paid for their tickets. "Congress party is paying for your journey to home, brother...Sonia ji is paying for this," the MLA can be heard telling the workers.
The legislator even went on to make a speech at the platform before the departure of the train.
"Your ticket fare has been paid by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Congress party, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, (Punjab Congress chief) Sunil Jakhar are sending you. Everything is written in this pamphlet, you can read it at leisure on your journey," he said.
Earlier, Sonia Gandhi had made an emotional appeal to his partymen to help the migrant labourers stranded in different states reach home safe. She said the party was even ready to bear the expense of the travel of these workers.