Bihar Polls: BJP’s Promise of Free Covid Vaccine in Manifesto Raises Trouble | Bihar Assembly Elections 2020 Election News

PATNA: A major dispute broke out on Thursday over “vaccine policy” with BJP’s Bihar poll manifesto promising free Covid-19 vaccines and opposition parties criticized the announcement as “politicizing the pandemic” while asking if India’s vaccination strategy would be boosted by its states’ timed elections.
Unveiling BJP’s ‘free vaccine for all’ pledge, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “As soon as the Covid-19 vaccine is available for large-scale production, all the people of Bihar they will receive a free vaccine. This is the first promise mentioned in our survey manifesto. ”

Later that day, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka promised to vaccinate all citizens for free, while MP said their poor would receive the vaccine for free. BJP’s promise in Bihar elicited strong responses from Congress, RJD, Shiv Sena, CPM and NC.

However, official sources, while declining to comment on a “political issue”, said that the BJP manifesto spoke of free distribution only when a vaccine reached large-scale production.
In the initial stages of production, the prioritization plans being developed by the Center would be followed and the vaccine would be purchased by the central government, official sources said. Rahul Gandhi from Congress criticized BJP’s vaccination promise, tweeting: “The government has just announced India’s Covid access strategy. Please check the state election calendar for when you will get it, along with a bunch of false promises. ”

However, BJP’s director of social media Amit Malviya defended the promise: “The BJP manifesto promises a free Covid vaccine. Like all programs, the Center will provide vaccines to the states at a nominal rate. It is up to state governments to decide whether they want to give it free or not. With health being a state issue, Bihar BJP has decided to give it away. Simple.”
The controversy, however, continued to infuriate with former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asking whether the vaccines will be paid for by the BJP treasury and CPM leader Sitaram Yechury called the announcement a blatant violation of the code of conduct. .
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel said that BJP was politicizing citizens’ health and Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi asked if this was going to be another empty vote promise like the Maharashtra aid pledges. BJP ally in Bihar JD (U) said the vaccines will be available free of charge.
“Health is a matter of state. If the NDA government returns, it will distribute vaccines to the people, whatever the cost, or conduct a mass vaccination campaign. I won’t be able to say who is making policy in this regard, but the free vaccination will be for the good of the people, ”said JD (U) state spokesman Rajiv Ranjan Prasad.
Speaking about the manifesto, Sitharaman said the country was getting closer to vaccine production and said that when scientists give clearance for mass production of the vaccine, it will be made available to the people of Bihar at no cost. While the government has indicated that a vaccine may be available early next year, the stage three trial data for the AstraZeneca candidate is expected to be ready for scrutiny in late November or early December, which increases the chance that the first few doses will be ready for use. use this year itself, but long after the Bihar surveys are done and dusted off.
The BJP manifesto also promised 19 lakhs of jobs in an apparent attempt to counter the promise of Tejashwi Yadav’s survey of the CM Mahagathbandhan’s face of 10 lakhs of government jobs. The promise of the free vaccine is the first of the 11 resolutions of the manifesto.
“The coronavirus vaccine is from the country and not from the BJP. The political use of this vaccine shows that they have no choice but to sell the fear of death and disease, ”reads a tweet posted by the official RJD identifier.
“We have asked the Electoral Commission to take note of such promises. BJP is trying to sign an electoral agreement using the vaccine, ”said RJD spokesman Chittaranjan Gagan. Randeep Singh Surjewala of Congress called the promise a “political stunt”.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that a vaccine is not possible before a year. BJP is somehow making fun of people, ”he added. Sitharaman said second generation IT centers would be created in Rajgir and Patna (IT Park, IT Tower, Software Park and Hardware Manufacturing Park) with the potential to create job opportunities for 5 billion youth.