BJP's fact finnding team of MPs to visit Kota

As the politics heats up over the death of a large number of children in a hospital in Congress-ruled Rajasthan's Kota, the BJP on Monday set up a four-member team which will will visit the hospital on Tuesday to interact with doctors and know what led to the death of infants.

Members of the team set up by BJP working president J P Nadda are Locket Chatterjee (Lok Sabha MP from Hoogly), Bharati Pravin Pawar (Dindori, Maharashtra), Jaskaur Meena (Dausa, Rajasthan) and Rajya Sabha MP from UP Kanta Kardam.

The delegation will meet family members of the children and will also interact with hospital staff before submitting its report to the party top leadership within three days.

Earlie, Union minister Prakash Javadekar attacked Rahul Gandhi, asking him to visit Kota and assess the situation in Rajasthan where his party has a government.

"If he (Rahul) has to go somewhere, he should go there and improve his government’s functioning,” Javadekar had said amid the Congress leader’s full throttle support to the agitation against Citizenship Amendment Act.

On Saturday, a team of Rajasthan BJP leaders had also visited the J K Lon hospital in Kota after the death of ten infants within the last 48 hours.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, had, however, said that the number of infant deaths in hospital has rather come down this year in comparison to last year, a remark which drew sharp criticism.

The Chief Minister’s Office has set up its own three-member team to probe the deaths as toll in the last one month has been pegged at 77.

Kota MP and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who visited the hospital on Sunday, expressed concern over the deaths and has asked the state government to take immediate action.

This is the second time that the BJP has set up such a fact finding committee of party leaders.

Earlier, a three-member panel had enquired into the death of a Scheduled Caste construction worker in Congress-ruled Punjab.

The worker had succumbed to his injuries nine days after allegedly being beaten up and forced to drink urine.

After a spot enquiry, the BJP team had submitted its report slamming Captain Amarinder Singh government of the state.