A BJP lawmakers' panel on Tuesday slammed Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for deaths of infants at a Kota hospital, saying he preferred to visit Jharkhand for the swearing-in of the new government there instead of "wiping" tears of dead children's mothers.
The three-member parliamentary panel, comprising Locket Chatterjee, Kanta Kardam and Jaskaur Meena, on Tuesday visited JK Lon Hospital, where at least 91 infants have died in the past month.
Meanwhile, Congress workers lodged a protest against the visit of the panel by forming a human chain outside the hospital and alleged that the BJP was trying to politicise the issue.
"While children were dying in the hospital, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot went to Jharkhand and was celebrating the formation of the government there. Mothers of dead children are still weeping but the CM is not here to wipe their tears," Chatterjee said.
She said none of the Congress workers has come here so far but the BJP MLAs in Kota have extended monetary assistance of Rs 50 lakhs for the maintenance of the hospital, she said.
She also attacked former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, saying while he visited other states to highlight the issues, then why he gave a miss to Rajasthan, a state where his party ruled.
A Rajasthan government committee had found that Kota's JK Lon Hospital was short of beds and its functioning needs improvement but cleared the doctors there of any lapses over the recent death of infants admitted there.