Rahul visits Gorakhpur children's families

Gorakhpur, Aug 19 :  Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi reached the district today to meet the families of the children died due to shortage of oxygen at the BRD Medical College Hospital here recently. Accompanied by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and AICC general secretary (in-charge of Uttar Pradesh) Gulam Nabi Azad and state president Raj Babbar, Mr Gandhi first went to visit the family members of the deceased children in nearby areas. The Congress vice-president was also accompanied by former Union Minister R P Singh, state legislature party leader Ajay Kumar Lalu and MLA Aradhana Mishra. Mr Gandhi will go to the residence of four such families, whose children have died on August 10, reportedly due to shortage of oxygen supply in the hospital. However, the UP government had vehemently denied such shortage so far. He refused to speak to media on his arrival from New Delhi by a chartered flight and said he will speak after his visit to the hospital at around 1600 hrs. However, Mr Azad in a brief interaction with media, directly blamed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the mismanagement of the hospital. "In spite of being five-time MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath did nothing for the hospital," he commented while reiterating that the UP government had conspired to cover up the criminal act of the death of the children due to oxygen supply failure. According to the programme, Mr Gandhi will first go to the residence of Brahmadeo Yadav of Baghagarha village, then to Malawa village to meet the family of Nitesh Shukla, then at Basauli village in Bansgaon to meet Ramashanker and then will go to Khutna village in the Khajni area to meet the families of Jitendra. Earlier, Mr Adityanath, who was in Gorakhpur in the morning to launch the cleanness drive, had alleged that Mr Gandhi and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav are coming to Gorakhpur just for picnic. UNI