Leave poll campaign and focus...: Akhilesh to Yogi

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should leave the election campaign for the ongoing bypolls in the state and focus on the poor condition of health and medical facilities.

   

He also said that the BJP government should pay Rs 1 crore 'samvednaa raashi' to all the bereaved families, who have lost their children in the tragedy at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Jhansi Medical College and added that "Gorakhpur should not be repeated".

The former chief minister, however, did not elaborate about Gorakhpur in his post on X.

"The news of 10 children dying and many children getting injured due to fire in Jhansi Medical College is extremely sad and worrying. Heartfelt tributes to everyone," Yadav said in his post on X in Hindi.

"The cause of the fire is being said to be a fire in the 'oxygen concentrator'. This is a direct case of negligence of medical management and administration or of poor quality oxygen concentrator. Punitive action should be taken against all those responsible in this case. The chief minister should leave the election campaign and false claims of 'everything being fine' and focus on the poor condition of health and medical facilities," he said.

Yadav said "only the families who have lost their children can understand the pain and suffering". 

"This is not only a governmental responsibility, but also a moral responsibility. It is hoped that those involved in electoral politics will get it investigated honestly in this hour of family disaster and will bring about radical changes in their so-called Health and Medical Ministry from top to bottom," he added.

Taking potshots at Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who also holds the medical health portfolio, Yadav said, "As for the 'Health and Medical Minister' of UP, there is nothing to say to him because it is because of him that the health and medical system in UP has deteriorated so much today. The minister, who is busy making low-level comments of narrow-communal politics, may not even remember that he is the 'health and medical minister'. He neither has any power nor any willpower, he just has a plaque with his name on it." -- PTI