As political parties gear up to consolidate their support amongst the electorate in the election-bound Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is presently conducting a rally in Siddharthnagar and has announced nine medical colleges for eastern Uttar Pradesh region. He also blamed previous regimes in the state for indulging in corruption and ignoring the people’s need for better facilities.

The Prime Minister will also preside over a public meeting in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi at around 1:45pm. 

PM Modi announced nine medical colleges in the districts of Siddharthnagar, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Jaunpur. The medical colleges have been announced with the vision of ‘one district-one medical’ —  a development initiative that seeks to ensure at least one government-funded medical college in each of the 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

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“The nine medical colleges will fulfil the dreams of a healthy India. They are a gift to the people of the state. These nine colleges will create over 5,000 employment opportunities and around 2,500 hospital beds will be added,” PM Modi said. 

The Prime Minister is also slated to announce ‘Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission’ later in the day. The health mission is being widely perceived as the country’s largest scheme that would improve the health infrastructure.

PM Modi targets opposition parties

Canvassing support for BJP, PM Modi took jibes at the opposition parties who have governed the state in the past. 

“Has it ever happened before that 9 colleges were inaugurated? It’s all about political priorities… Previous govts were only filling their family lockers and earning for themselves. But our priority is to save poor people’s money and provide them with facilities,” the Prime Minister said.

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He also said that eastern Uttar Pradesh’s image has been ruined by previous governments. “The same region will now infuse new hopes… people of UP can’t forget how Yogiji had highlighted about UPs poor medical system in Parliament, despite not being a CM,” he added.

Priyanka Gandhi promises free medical treatment

Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi, who is Congress incharge of Uttar Pradesh announced another poll-promise today. She posted on Twitter that if voted to power, her party will provide free medical treatment upto Rs  1,000,000. 

“Everyone saw the dilapidated condition of the health system of UP due to government neglect during the Corona period and now during the spread of fever. To ensure good and cheap treatment, with the consent of the manifesto committee, the UP Congress has decided that if voted to power, our government will provide up to Rs 10 lakh for treatment of any disease,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

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Elections for 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held by February-March next year. In the last assembly elections in the state, BJP had secured 312 seats while Samajwadi Party bagged 47. The Bahujan Samaj Party had won 19 seats while Congress managed to secure a total of seven seats.