Lucknow, January 3: A day after slamming Congress in-charge for Eastern Uttar Pradesh -- Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati targeted Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Health Minister Raghu Sharma, asking their resignations. Mayawati on Friday called Gehlot's statement of infants death as 'irresponsible and unsympathetic'. Also, she held the top brass for the death of over 100 infants in last one month.

Demanding the sacking of Gehlot and be replaced with a new dispensation, the BSP chief took to Twitter and wrote, "The comments of Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on the death of infants in Kota is highly shameful and condemnable. The Congress government is making irresponsible and unsympathetic comments to hide their negligence." Adding further, Mayawati said due to negligence of Gehlot government, over 100 mother lost their babies. So it would be better that top brass should be replaced with some responsible, else many more mothers would lose the children, she said. Kota Infant Deaths: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Writes to Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Assures 'Full Support' From Centre.

Here's her tweet:

On Thursday, Mayawati had indirectly criticised Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her silence on the deaths of around 100 children in Rajasthan's Kota last month. She was of the opinion that Gandhi should have met the mothers, who lost their children due to the negligence of the state government.

Earlier, Gehlot the fatalities at the government medical care unit at Kota's JK Lone Hospital have dipped compared to the last 5-6 years, claiming that attempts are being made to "divert the nation's attention" from the state of economic slowdown and anti-CAA protests. He had said, "The number of deaths of infants in the state is the least now as compared to the last 5-6 years. Medical arrangements are excellent. Still, we are making efforts to reduce Infant Mortality Ratio (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio."

On the other side, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Thursday informed the media that the Central government has written to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and requested him to look into the matter. Vardhan also assured all kind of support from Central government's side. It is to be known that over 952 infants have lost their lives in a year, while authorities claim that the number of deaths reported at the health facility in 2019 was less than 1,005 in 2018.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 03, 2020 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).