After Rahul Gandhi's sudden visit to the relief camps, Mulayam had stoked a controversy on Monday, saying, "There are no riot victims at all in the camps. There is not even one. You can check.
"These are people who are conspirators. BJP and Congress have conspired. They have asked people to stay there at night and sit in dharnas. This is conspiracy of the people there.
"They (riot victims) have all gone. Congress and BJP are provoking them to rake up the issue till elections," he had said.
However, contradicting Mulayam's claim, a high-level official panel had yesterday said a total of 4,783 "displaced" people were still living in relief camps, where at least 34 children below 12 years had died.
UP BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak alleged that Mulayam knew his party was not capable of "removing the blot of failure" after the riots, and, therefore, he was making accusations against those living in the camps.
He said after Mulayam's statement, it was the Principal Secretary who had made an insensitive comment and demanded that the government resign immediately.
Congress leader Akhilesh Pratap Singh termed the statement as most irresponsible and insensitive.
Taking a dig a Gupta, he said, "If pneumonia does not happen due to cold, what is the reason. Tomorrow, they would say that a person was not killed after being hit by bullet, but due to excessive bleeding."
(With PTI inputs)
