Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel on Sunday said Congress is raising the issue of deaths of children in Rajkot and Ahmedabad to divert people's attention from infant deaths in Congress-ruled Rajasthan's Kota.
He asserted that the infant mortality ratio is less than 25 per 1,000 births in Gujarat.
"It has been said that child death rates have increased in Rajkot and Ahmedabad to divert attention from Rajasthan incident. In 1997, the rate was 67 per 1,000 infants. According to state government data, the infant mortality ratio is less than 25 per 1,000 births," Patel told reporters here in a press conference.
"Congress has no right to speak and it is diverting attention from Kota incident. People from Congress and Madhya Pradesh come to Gujarat for medical facilities,' he said.
Attacking the BJP government in Gujarat, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that 1,235 children died in one year in Rajkot.
The Congress leader said that 219 infants died in December last year in Rajkot and Ahmedabad.
In Rajasthan's Kota, 110 infants have died till now since December at JK Lon government hospital.
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