'Step Back...You Can be from RSS or BJP': Akhilesh Yadav Targets Doctor Treating Kannauj Bus Accident Victims

New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has been caught on tape slamming the doctor at a hospital in Kannauj where he was to visit the patients injured in a road accident. Twenty people had died and several others were injured when a double-decker bus burst into flames after colliding with a truck on Friday.

"You could be from the RSS or from the BJP, but can't tell me what they are saying," Akhilesh can be heard saying in the video while he was interacting with the kin of the injured.

Akhilesh lashed out at the doctor when he tried to intervene while the patients were telling the Samajwadi Party leader that they had not received compensation. On learning that the doctor is from Gorakhpur, SP Chief says, “It is now obvious why he is taking sides. He should not have interrupted in between when I was speaking to the patients.”

“You don't speak, you are a government man, I know. You don't have to explain anything to me. You don't speak because you are a government servant," Akhilesh says he turns to the doctor.

"You can't tell me what they are saying. You need not speak on behalf of the government. Go away from here," he retorts.

The doctor has been identified as Emergency Medical Officer DS Mishra who later clarified that he had tried to correct the kin's claim over not receiving compensation.

"I was present there as I was treating patients. One of the patients said he didn't get the compensation cheque. I tried to clarify that the cheque was given. At this, Akhilesh ji got angry and asked me to leave the room," Dr Mishra was quoted as saying by the ANI.

SP MLA from Kannauj (Sadar) Anil Dohre said, "The doctor was talking on political lines, though his job is to take care of the patients. Akhilesh wanted to know about the health of the patients and their treatment. But the doctor started speaking and started telling how many people were in the bus and how much compensation was given.The government should take cognizance of the issue."

Akhilesh’s SP has announced ex-gratia of Rs 20 lakh to the family of the deceased, while Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced relief of Rs 2 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.

There were 45 passengers, including three staff, in the bus that was going to Jaipur from Farrukhabad when the accident occurred on the Grand Trunk Road near Chhibramau on Friday night, the police had said.

Charred bodies of 10 people have been recovered from the completely-damaged bus, District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said, adding one of the bodies has been identified as Rinku Yadav (32), the driver of the truck which collided with the bus.

(With inputs from Qazi Faraz Ahmad)