Bengaluru, Jan 1 (IANS): Karnataka BJP Women's Wing President C Manjula has demanded the resignation of Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and Minister for Women and Child Welfare Laxmi Hebbalkar, alleging their failure to prevent maternal deaths in the state.

Speaking to the media at the BJP state office in Bengaluru on Wednesday, she accused Minister Rao of being completely ineffective in addressing maternal mortality and demanded that he step down.

Similarly, she criticised Minister Hebbalkar for not visiting or consoling the families of the deceased and urged her to resign as well.

She said that in protest against the government’s inaction in preventing maternal deaths, the BJP Women's Wing would organise district-level demonstrations across the state, starting from Thursday (January 2) with protests in five districts per day.

Manjula demanded that the government provide Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the family of each deceased mother and take responsibility for supporting the children of the victims financially, socially and provide them with a good education.

Referring to the recent death of a pregnant woman, Renuka Hiremani, in Koppal, she recounted how the 23-year-old, who had traveled to her maternal home in Kushtagi for her first delivery, was referred from Kushtagi hospital to the district hospital, where she passed away.

Questioning whether this was the "death guarantee" promised by the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah government, she termed the incident tragic and deeply distressing.

Karnataka BJP had earlier launched an attack on the state government during the Winter Session of the Assembly over maternal deaths reported across the state.

Leader of Opposition, R. Ashoka, raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly, stating that the situation in the state had become so dire that women fear setting foot in government-run hospitals.

Talking about maternal deaths in the Legislative Council, Health Minister Rao had appealed for stronger regulation of the powerful pharmaceutical lobby in the country.

“I want to convey that drug-related laws are not strong. There is no history of action being taken against pharmaceutical companies,” Health Minister Rao had said.

The case of maternal deaths has been handed over for judicial investigation by the state government.

The incidents of maternal deaths have been reported from some government hospitals in Ballary, Raichur and other districts in north and central Karnataka.