Defence minister Rajnath Singh visits family members of Covid-19 victims in Lucknow
Rajnath Singh went to the residences of a few party leaders, the owner of a prominent private hospital and the journalist of an English daily who had succumbed to Covid-19
Defence minister Rajnath Singh began his three-day Uttar Pradesh visit on Saturday and met the family members of people who died of Covid-19 in his Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency.
Singh visited the residences of a few party leaders, the owner of a prominent private hospital, as well as the journalist of an English daily who had succumbed to Covid-19.
Accompanied by deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma, law minister Brajesh Pathak and Lucknow BJP chief Mukesh Sharma, Singh visited the Tikait Rai-LDA Colony residence of former party MLA Suresh Srivastava. Both Srivastava and his wife had succumbed to the infection. Offering floral tributes to the pictures of the couple, the defence minister recalled his long association with Srivastava who was the BJP MLA from Lucknow (West).
Two days after Srivastava, his Malti succumbed to the infection in April at the height of the second wave of Covid-19
Srivastava’s other family members, including Dr Shailesh and Dr Swati Srivastava, Dr Mrinalini Srivastava, Sourabh Srivastava and Jaisi were also present.
The defence minister also visited the Cantonment residence of former Lucknow BJP chief Pradeep Bhargava, who too fell prey to the virus.
“His wife Achla urged Singh to help her younger son Abhinav join the BJP and serve the party like her late husband did,” said BJP’s Praveen Garg.
Bhargava’s other family members, including Shikha, Shweta, Aarav, Pranav and Pranika, were also present.
Rajnath Singh also visited the Gomti Nagar residence of Mayo hospital owner Dr KN Singh. He also went to the Dilkusha colony residence of senior journalist Subhash Mishra, who died due to the Covid-19 infection. Singh met Mishra’s wife Sandhya and his two sons Siddhant and Shashwat.
Earlier, the defence minister was warmly welcomed on his arrival by several ministers, including urban development minister Ashutosh Tandon Gopal, law minister Brijesh Pathak, Jal Shakti minister Mahendra Singh, Lucknow mayor Sanyukta Bhatia, BJP’s Awadh region chief Shesh Narayan Mishra, his Lok Sabha representative Diwaker Tripathi and several lawmakers, among others.
