Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday targeted the Congress over infant deaths at a Rajasthan hospital, suggesting that party leader Priyanka Gandhi should have gone there to console the children's mothers instead of "playing politics" in UP.
Both appeared to refer to Gandhi's visit to the Uttar Pradesh after violent protests over the amended citizenship law.
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia have also criticised the Congress-led government in Rajasthan over the functioning of the state-run JK Lon hospital in Kota, where 104 infants have died since the beginning of December.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who is an MP from Kota, had also expressed concern.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the deaths should not be politicised and invited Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to visit the hospital and see the "best" facilities offered there.
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The Centre has decided to send a high-level team comprising experts from AIIMS, Jodhpur, and health economists to Kota.
"Let us ensure no child succumbs to preventable causes or due to lack of health system capacity," Vardhan wrote to Gehlot.
Adityanath, who was at the receiving end of Congress criticism over a series of deaths at a hospital in Gorakhpur over two years ago, attacked the Congress leadership in a series of tweets in Hindi.
"The death of 100 innocent children is extremely saddening and heart-wrenching. The death of children is a blot on a civilised society, human values and feelings," he said.
"It is extremely sad that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, despite being women, are not able to understand the sorrow of mothers," he added.
He said it would have been better "had Priyanka met and consoled the aggrieved mothers instead of indulging in politics in UP".
This was in apparent reference to her criticism of the BJP government's handling of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. In tweets and during her visit to Lucknow, she had accused the UP Police of committing excesses.
BSP supremo Mayawati questioned the Congress general secretary over her "silence" on the deaths.
She said if Priyanka Gandhi does not meet the children's mothers, then her meeting with the kin of the victims of violence during the anti-CAA protests in UP will be "construed as pure theatrics".
"The death of 100 children in Rajasthan's Kota district is very sad and painful. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his government are still insensitive, disinterested and irresponsible, which is highly condemnable."
"But what is more saddening is the fact that the top leadership of the Congress, especially its general secretary, are maintaining silence over this issue. It would have been better that like she did in UP, she had met the aggrieved mothers, who lost their children due to the laxity of the party's government," she said.
But Gehlot said his government is sensitive to the issue of death of sick infants at the Kota hospital.
"There should no politics over the issue. Infant mortality at this hospital is steadily decreasing. We will try to reduce it further. It is our top priority that mothers and children remain in good health," Gehlot tweeted in Hindi.
Gehlot claimed that the first ICU for children in Rajasthan was established by the Congress government in 2003.
"We also established an ICU for children in Kota in 2011," he added.
"We are ready to improve medical services in the state through discussions and cooperation with an expert team from the Centre," he said.
BJP state president Satish Poonia said the BJP does not want to do politics on the issue but the state government is not dealing with it seriously.
"It is regrettable that the state health minister did not even visit the hospital. The chief minister is known for being sensitive. A delegation of BJP MPs had met the families who lost their children. They were in deep anguish. If the government is not sensitive, then it is worrisome," Poonia said.
He alleged that the BJP MPs were manhandled by Congress workers during a visit to the Kota hospital.
Recently, a Rajasthan government committee had found that the hospital was short of beds and its functioning needs improvement but cleared the doctors there of any lapses.
The three-member committee, which was sent to investigate 10 deaths on December 23 and 24, had said the infants who died on the two days were given the right treatment.
The committee submitted that eight out of the 10 infants were referred from other hospitals and they were at higher risk due to pre-term birth.
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