When Priyanka Vadra was campaigning for her mother in the Lalganj area of Rae Bareli in March, she noticed a group of schoolchildren shouting Congress slogans. The leader of the group, 14-year-old Abhishek Jaiswal, a Class X student, told her he had formed a “Bal Congress” to campaign for Sonia Gandhi.

Priyanka told the group that she would make her two children a part of the organisation but they should concentrate on their studies first.

That was a story that played out in the media.

On November 11, Abhishek Jaiswal died of burn injuries he suffered after a kerosene lantern fell on him on October 29. His family said he had suffered only 25 per cent burns and blamed the doctors at the local hospital for negligence. “My brother could have been saved. He was later taken to Lucknow but by that time it was too late,” said Rishu Jaiswal, his sister.

Doctors at the local hospital were not available for comment.

A week after the accident, Priyanka got to know about it and requested Kishori Lal Sharma, Sonia Gandhi’s representative in Rae Bareli, to help him. Abhishek was moved to a private hospital in Lucknow but did not recover and died on Wednesday night.

“As soon as the reports reached Priyanka, she got in touch with the grieving family members,” chief of the UPCC media cell Akhilesh Pratap Singh told Press Trust of India.