The Congress on Tuesday slammed the railways for seeking a CBI probe into the triple train disaster in Odisha and accused the government of shifting the focus away from its “failures” by bringing in new conspiracy theories.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: “Instead of finding out what caused this grave accident, the government is now spinning conspiracy theories and shifting the focus away from the issue of safety.”

She added that Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw should take moral responsibility and step down. “Once again the Modi Government is shifting the focus away from its own ‘failures’. The government has refused to prioritise the safety of citizens,” she said, adding, “The reality is, accidents are happening because the safety of passengers is not the priority of this government.”

The Congress spokesperson said that Railway experts should probe the 2 June train accident and there should be no involvement of the investigative agency to divert attention from the disaster. “Will the CBI find out why the budget for track repair and laying of new tracks which was Rs 9,607 crore in 2018-19 reduced to Rs 7,417 crores in 2019-20?” she asked.

“Will the CBI find out why only one zone was allowed to speak in the Rail Chintan Shivir when every zone was supposed to speak on security and why the focus in this camp was on ‘Vande Bharat’ Express trains? Will the CBI find out why the funding of the National Rail Safety Fund has been reduced by 79 per cent? Will the CBI find out why the annual budget of Rs 20,000 crore was not allocated to the National Rail Safety Fund, as promised?” Shrinate wondered.

The Congress party’s remarks came a day after party president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing concerns about the safety of passengers.

In his letter, Kharge wrote, “The devastating train accident in Balasore, Odisha, one of the worst in Indian history, has shocked the nation. The train accident has been an ‘eye opener’ for all of us. All the ’empty’ safety claims of the Railway Minister (Vaishnaw) have now been exposed.” He also disapproved of the proposal to seek a CBI probe into the disaster.