Dengue outbreak triggers political slugfest in Uttarakhand

The Uttarakhand government and the opposition on Sunday traded barbs over the outbreak of dengue fever in the state.

State Congress president Pritam Singh had hit out at Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat over the rising number of dengue cases, claiming the state government was not doing anything to tackle them.

When asked about Singh's remark, Rawat told reporters it would be better if the Congress leader paid more attention on his party's work.

"Dengue mosquitoes are swarming around state Congress president Pritam Singh, so he has been unable to announce the party's state working committee since a long time," he said.

"Singh is a good man but he repeats whatever he is being told," Rawat claimed.

Hitting back, Singh said that as chief minister held the health portfolio, instead of doing politics he should focus on the dengue outbreak.

Former chief minister Harish Rawat expressed disappointment over Rawat's remark, saying that the formation of his party's state working committee was a different topic and the chief minister should reveal when would the three vacant posts in his cabinet be filled.

The Congress leader said the chief minister was making "shallow remarks" and it appeared that the government was itself "infected with the dengue virus".

According to the state Health Department, over 1,700 cases of the vector-borne disease have been reported so far, of which eight people have died.