BJP attacks UP govt over "hunger death"

BJP today accused the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh of "gross insensitivity" following the alleged starvation death of a Dalit man in Bundelkhand and asked it to focus on providing relief in the drought-hit region instead of spending money on publicity.
The party referred to the state's review meeting held yesterday in which it was disclosed that only 53 crore out of 857 crore allotted to it for drought relief was spent and accused it of "incompetence" causing scarcity of food and water in the region.
"This is height of negligence and gross insensitivity. Somebody died of hunger but there is no provision for food and water from the government. Whatever little arrangement has been made is being diverted to those associated with the ruling party.

"The Samajwadi Party government is spending a lot of money on publicity. If it instead focuses on providing relief to the people, it would be better," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
He wondered if the state was not giving relief to people due to political reasons.
Sharma noted that the Centre had announced a package of Rs 35,000 crore for Bundelkhand but alleged a big chunk of it had been claimed by corruption.
He asked the SP government to make use of a five lakh litre capacity train in Jhansi to ferry water to people in Bundelkhand region. It is for the state to take relief material arriving from different sources to people, he added.