The death of infants at a hospital in Rajasthan’s Kota has set off a political storm with BSP chief Mayawati and BJP attacking the Congress-ruled state as well as the party leaders including Sonia Gandhi.

This comes as 963 deaths have been reported at the government-run JK Lon Hospital in Kota with over 100 infant deaths being reported in the month of December alone.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi of being “insensitive” on the matter “despite being women”.

“The deaths of 100 children at a Kota hospital is heartrending. The loss of the mothers is against the tenets of civilised society, human values and sensitivity. It is sad that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, despite being women, could not understand,” the UP CM said in a tweet in Hindi.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also criticised Sonia Gandhi as well Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, saying that the Congress government remains “insensitive and irresponsible towards it (infant deaths), which is extremely condemnable.”

Mayawati also slammed Priyanka for not paying heed to the Kota hospital tragedy in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan.

This comes as Priyanka is taking to task the Yogi Aditynath government in Uttar Pradesh on the plight of a toddler in Varanasi separated from her parents, who were arrested for protesting against the Citizenship Act.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, Mayawati said: “It is very sad that the Congress General Secretary is keeping mum on the deaths of 100 children in the Kota hospital. It would have been better if like Uttar Pradesh, she would have met the mothers of the children who have died in the hospital, due to the apathy of the government of her party in the state.”

1. कांग्रेस शासित राजस्थान के कोटा जिले में हाल ही में लगभग 100 मासूम बच्चों की मौत से माओं का गोद उजड़ना अति-दुःखद व दर्दनाक। तो भी वहाँ के सीएम श्री गहलोत स्वयं व उनकी सरकार इसके प्रति अभी भी उदासीन, असंवेदनशील व गैर-जिम्मेदार बने हुए हैं, जो अति-निन्दनीय।

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 2, 2020

“If the Congress General Secretary does not go and meet the Kota families who are affected by the tragedy, then her outreach towards victims in Uttar Pradesh would be considered political opportunism, from which the public of Uttar Pradesh is advised to stay alert.”

3. यदि कांग्रेस की महिला राष्ट्रीय महासचिव राजस्थान के कोटा में जाकर मृतक बच्चों की ‘‘माओं‘‘ से नहीं मिलती हैं तो यहाँ अभी तक किसी भी मामले में यू.पी. पीड़ितों के परिवार से मिलना केवल इनका यह राजनैतिक स्वार्थ व कोरी नाटकबाजी ही मानी जायेगी, जिससे यू.पी. की जनता को सर्तक रहना है।

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 2, 2020

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed that “minimum deaths were reported in the hospital in 2019 in the last six years”.

“The kids’ deaths is a sad issue and quite unfortunate, but there were times when as many as 1,500 deaths were reported in this hospital. But this year, only 900 deaths were reported,” he had said.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan once again on Thursday said that he has written to the Rajasthan Chief Minister over the deaths of children at Kota.

The Union Health Minister also assured all support from the Centre to the Rajasthan government.

Earlier in the day, Gehlot had tweeted: “The government is sensitive to the deaths of sick infants at JK Lone Hospital Kota. There should not be politics on this. Infant mortality in this hospital of Kota is steadily decreasing. We will try to reduce it further. It is our top priority for mothers and children to be healthy.”