Post of Cong president family matter: Smriti Irani

Training her guns on the Gandhi family, Union minister Smriti Irani here on Monday said the post of the Congress president is "a family matter". On a visit to her parliamentary constituency Amethi, when the Union minister for child development and textiles was asked that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has lately been very active, could become the president of the party, she said, "This only Sonia Gandhi can tell but the post of the Congress president is a family matter."

Reacting to infant deaths at a Kota hospital in Rajasthan, the minister said, "People come to seek medical aid with the expectation that they will get service through the government. It is the responsibility of the state government to extend immediate solutions in case of any challenges in such services." She also requested the Rajasthan government to respond positively to the initiatives taken by the Union government in this regard.

Irani said the statement of Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot with regard to the deaths at the Kota hospital is important as he has accepted that if there have been any shortcomings on the part of the state government, then these should be rectified. A couple of days ago, Pilot had batted for fixing responsibility for the deaths and had said the response to it could have been more sensitive.

Addressing a select gathering on the premises of the regional centre of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), Smriti focused on the role of education for all-round development. She also inaugurated a Kisan Kalyan Kendra at Shahgarh and attended a programme organised by Raghav Ram Seva Sansthan at Amethi, where over 5,000 blankets were to be distributed.

A number of state ministers, MLAs and activists of different frontal organisations of the BJP were present on the occasion.