LUCKNOW: Even as the Gorakhpur hospital tragedy turned a week old, the political slanging match was far from over. Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Saturday made a veiled attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi saying that Gorakhpur should not be allowed to serve as the picnic spot for opposition leaders.
Adityanath took a joint jibe at Gandhi and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav respectively while flagging off “Swachh Uttar Pradesh, Swasthya Uttar Pradesh” campaign. The CM said: “Any ‘Yuvraj’ sitting in Delhi or a ‘shazada’ sitting in Lucknow cannot feel the importance of Swachchhta Abhiyan (cleanliness drive).” He added that there was no valid reason why they should be permitted to turn Gorakhpur into their picnic spot.
“If someone gives an open challenge to the self respect of the people of Gorakhpur and eastern UP ...they will themselves come forward to fight such dreaded diseases through their awareness,” he added.
Blaming the previous SP and BSP regimes for the rickety medical infrastructure of the state, Adityanath stated, “Governments in last 12-15 years have ruined institutions in UP for selfish motives by institutionalising corruption. They kept people deprived of facilities.”
The comments came after Gandhi visited the victims’ families in Gorakhpur on Saturday.
3 UP medical college principals offer to resign
Highlighting the sorry state of affairs in medical education department, principals of three state-run medical colleges—Agra, Jhansi and Saharanpur— have offered to quit. However, the three principals —Dr Anand Swarup of Saharanpur Medical College, Dr N Sengar of Jhansi Medical College and Dr Saroj Singh of Agra Medical College—also said that they were not able to fulfil their clinical responsibilities properly owing to administrative pressures.