Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has assailed Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi for not speaking about the deaths of 100 children in the Kota district of Congress-ruled Rajasthan.
In three tweets posted in Hindi on Thursday morning, the BSP chief said that the Rajasthan’s Congress government and its chief minister Ashok Gehlot continued to remain ‘insensitive’, ‘indifferent’ and ‘irresponsible’ to the deaths of children in Kota. “This is highly condemnable,” she said.
She alleged so many children died in Kota because of the carelessness of Rajasthan’s Congress government. Around 100 newborn babies are reported to have died in government-run hospitals in Kota over a period of last a few days with 10 death reported on January 1 only.
She said (without naming Priyanka Gandhi) that if she did not go to Kota to meet victims’ families, then her meetings in UP would be treated merely as ‘political selfishness’ and pure ‘drama’. “The public of UP needs to be alert,” she cautioned.
According to sources, Mayawati’s increasing attack on the Congress emanates from her fear that any possible expansion of the Congress under Priyanka Gandhi may largely be at the cost of the BSP support base in UP. Priyanka Gandhi, Congress in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has been quite active in UP taking the BJP government head-on on various issues.
“The Congress and the BSP share a common vote bank to a large extent and Mayawati’s concern is natural,” sources said.
Countering Mayawati’s charge, Congress spokesman Virendra Madan said there no parallel could be drawn in what is happening in UP and deaths of infants in Rajasthan.
“In UP, Priyanka Gandhi is raising people’s voice since the government was trying to quell it, while in Rajasthan the government and its chief minister were dealing with the issue of deaths of infants due to medical reasons will all seriousness,” he argued.
