CM Raman Singh pushing Chhattisgarh's health into critical condition: Raj Babbar

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar Saturday hit out at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, a doctor by qualification, for pushing the state's "health" into "critical condition". Babbar said that Chhattisgarh ranked 20th in the list of 21 states for providing health services, and posts of doctors and nurses were lying vacant, the Congress leader added.

"The chief minister has dashed the hopes of people who were thinking that health facilities would improve after a doctor became CM. Health facilities are pathetic in Chhattisgarh," Babbar said in a press conference here. "A doctor CM has pushed the state's health services into the ICU during his 15-year rule," Babbar alleged. He said the Raman Singh government had failed to build a single hospital in Bastar region for security forces getting injured in anti-Naxal operations. These injured jawans have to be airlifted to Raipur or require admission in private medical facilities, he added.

Babbar also attacked former chief minister Ajit Jogi who quit the Congress to set up the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and is fighting the forthcoming Assembly polls in alliance with the BSP and CPI. Without naming Jogi, Babbar said that the "collector", referring to Jogi's past as an IAS official, and CM Raman Singh had entered into a "tie up" for the forthcoming polls. Chhattisgarh goes to polls in two phases on November 12 and November 20 and counting of votes will be taken up on December 11. He said that the state had got a collector and doctor as CMs, and the people had "transferred" the collector, a reference to Jogi's stint as Congress CM between 2000 and 2003. He also said that the Naxal issue in Chhattisgarh will not be resolved by bullets but through talks.

He said that grievances of Naxals should be addressed as the "movement" started for the rights of people. Those have diverted from the mainstream should be brought back, Babbar said, adding that picking up a gun was not a solution. Queried about whether he was claiming that Naxals were revolutionaries, Babbar said, "I want to clarify that I said the issue can be solved through talks with those (Naxals) who call themselves revolutionaries by indulging in acts of terrorism." He refuted BJP allegations, made on several occasions, that the Congress was "backing" Naxals. "The Congress party had lost its state leadership (in Naxal attack in May 2013). BJP keeps on accusing the Congress of directly or indirectly backing Naxals which reflects BJPs mental sickness. How can the Congress party which lost its senior (state) leadership in a Naxal attack take their side," Babbar asked.

(With inputs from agencies.)