Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has been caught on tape slamming a doctor at a hospital in Chhibramau in Kannauj where he had gone to meet those injured in the January 12 bus accident that killed 20 people.

Several others were injured when a double-decker bus burst into flames after colliding with a truck on Friday.

While interacting with the kin of the injured, Akhilesh Yadav is heard lashing out at the doctor, “You could be from the RSS or from the BJP, but you cannot tell me what they are saying.”

He asks the Emergency Medical Officer to leave the room as he speaks about compensation amount been given to the injured and says, “Tum sarkar ka paksh nahi le sakte…bahar bhaag jao.” (Go out, you cannot plead for the government.)

Akhilesh lashed out at the doctor when the latter tried to intervene when some patients were complaining to the Samajwadi Party leader that they had not received compensation.

On learning that the doctor is from Gorakhpur, Akhilesh said: “It is now obvious why you are taking sides. You 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. You can’t tell me what they are saying. You need not speak on behalf of the government. Go away from here.”

The doctor has been identified as Emergency Medical Officer D.S. Mishra who later clarified that he had tried to correct the kin’s claim of not receiving compensation.

“I was present there as I was treating patients. One of the patients said he did not get the compensation cheque. I tried to clarify that the cheque was given. At this, Akhileshji got angry and asked me to leave the room,” Mishra said.

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.”

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 Farukkhabad when the accident took place on the Grand Trunk Road near Chhibramau on Friday night.

Charred bodies of 10 people have been recovered from the completely-damaged bus while the remaining bodies have not been found.