Jairam Ramesh accuses PM of dividing India into BJP, non-BJP states in Covid vaccine distribution

PTI, Jul 10, 2021, 10:08 AM IST

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday alleged partisanship in the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine among states and accused the prime minister of dividing them into those governed by the BJP and those by others.

He cited the example of Congress-ruled Rajasthan and said even though it has the capacity to administer 15 lakh vaccine doses a day, it has been allocated only 49 lakh doses for the entire month.

“Rajasthan has put in place capacity to administer 15 lakh doses a day, and has already done 10 lakh doses a day. But the Modi government has allocated only 49 lakh doses to Rajasthan for the entire month of July,” he said.

“How will we vaccinate India if PM divides India into BJP and non-BJP states,” he said on Twitter.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wrote to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, saying that the state has built a capacity of 15 lakh doses a day, but is being provided with only 1.75 lakh doses of the vaccine.

He claimed that 42 per cent of the state’s people above 18 years have been administered the first dose and all adults can be vaccinated before December.

“But the way the vaccine supplies are made by the Centre, we are concerned over it. I have written to the new health minister to provide adequate supply of vaccines to Rajasthan,” Gehlot said on Twitter.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has also said that the state is left with no supplies of Covishield and only one day of stock of Covaxin. He has asked for more supplies of the vaccine from the Centre.

The Congress has alleged discrimination with non-BJP-ruled states by the central government in providing Covid vaccines.