Even as infant death toll in Kota's JK Lon hospital touched 102, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday sought an explanation from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the deaths.
According to media reports, the Congress chief also summoned party in-charge in the state Avinash Pande and sought to know why no steps were taken even as there had been an alarming increase in the number of infant deaths in December.
After meeting Sonia Gandhi, Pande said she wanted to know the reasons behind the deaths. "It is a very sad situation and the chief minister has been asked to act on the report," The New Indian Express quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati trained guns on Sonia Ganhdi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over the infant deaths. In a series of tweets, the UP CM said it was extremely sad that despite being women both could not feel the pain of the mothers who lost their children in Kota hospital.
"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 in a tweet. "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 the mothers," he added.
Mayawati dubbed the deaths of children in "Congress-ruled Rajasthan" as "very painful and sad". She alleged that despite the deaths, the Gehlot government is "still indifferent, irresponsible and insensitive" on the Kota hospital issue.
"If the woman general secretary of the Congress does not visit the mothers who lost their children in Kota, then her meetings with families of victims in Uttar Pradesh will be acts of political interest and theatrics," the BSP chief said.
Urging people not to politicise Kota infant deaths, the Rajasthan chief minister, in a series of tweets, said he welcomes specialist delegation of Central government and added that the state government is committed to making Rajasthan disease-free.
