Haryana polls: Mayawati blames 'casteist' people of Jat community for BSP-INLD loss
Lucknow (PTI): BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday blamed the "casteist" people of the Jat community of the state for the adverse Haryana assembly election results and advised them to change their mentality.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had fought the Haryana polls in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the regional party.
The BJP stunned its rivals with its performance, winning the state polls for a third time in a row by bagging 48 seats of 90 seats, while the Congress managed 37 and the INLD scored victory on just two as three went to Independent candidates, according to the Election Commission.
The BSP pocketed 1.82 per cent vote share while its ally INLD got 4.14 per cent, the data analysis on the EC website showed.
Mayawati, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, on Tuesday night took to social media platform X and said, "The BSP and the INLD fought the Haryana assembly general election in alliance. But today's result shows that the casteist people of the Jat community did not vote for the BSP due to which the party candidates lost on some seats by a small margin of votes, although the BSP's entire vote was transferred."
"The people of the Jat community of UP have changed their casteist mentality to a great extent and they have become MLAs from the BSP and ministers in the government. The people of the Jat community of Haryana should also follow their footsteps and change their casteist mentality. This is a special advice," Mayawati posted in Hindi.
She expressed her heartfelt gratitude to all the BSP members for fighting this election with "full strength" and assured them that their hard work will not go in vain.
"People should not be disappointed nor lose hope. But they should be ready to make their own path. A new path will emerge," she added in the three-part post.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
