The Congress blamed the BJP for lack of empathy towards the children and asked why bothe Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister are silent on it, and criticised the state Chief Minister for not responding to questions on the death of the children.
State Congress-incharge Rajiv Satav said: "When will the Prime Minister and the Home Minister will break their silence on the death of the children, while they boast of work done in Gujarat. The reality is that up to December, 1,250 children lost their lives in the past one year in Rajkot because of carelessness, and in Gandhinagar 250 children died in 3 months."
Congress leader Shakti Singh Gohil said: "While in Rajasthan two ministers are camping in Kota (where over 100 children have died), but in (Gujarat) Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's constituency 134 children have died and he did not care to answer the questions raised by the media "
"Up to 134 children have died in a month in Rajkot and Ahmedabad (both in Gujarat), 253 children have died in 3 months...those who are doing politics over the Rajasthan children's deaths, why are they silent here? More than 1,40,000 children are malnourished in the state...who is responsible for this?", Gohil asked.
Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has stated that the infant mortality rate in the state is very low.
"As per state government data, there are 25 deaths per 1,000 births," he told mediapersons recently.
( With inputs from IANS )