BHUBANESWAR: National BJP spokesperson and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi on Wednesday hit out at the Congress for misleading people and indulging in cheap politics over one of the biggest vaccination programmes in the world.
Coming down heavily on the party for accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of abdicating his responsibility, Sarangi said it was the same party which demanded decentralisation of vaccination. After the Centre decentralised the vaccination process, the party is now talking in different languages.
Citing the example of Odisha, Sarangi said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to the Prime Minister requesting him to allow the State to procure vaccines from open market for inoculation of people in the age bracket of 18 to 44. Other chief ministers made similar requests. After decentralisation of the vaccination programme, all the NDA-ruled states and some others like Odisha announced free vaccination for people in the age group of 18 to 44.
“Will Congress president Sonia Gandhi direct chief ministers of her party to make similar announcements?,” she asked. Sarangi said the NDA government at Centre is giving equal importance to each State as far as supply of Covid vaccine is concerned. There is no discriminatory attitude in vaccine supply. Therefore the Congress should stop doing cheap politics.
Describing Congress as a ‘confused party’, Sarangi said, the conduct of the grand old political outfit in the midst of the pandemic is highly condemnable. The Congress leadership and their chief ministers, who deliberately created vaccine hesitancy and panic among people by misleading them, are contradicting their stand on political considerations.
The Congress party has shown signs of immaturity by mocking the efforts of scientists, doctors and innovators who developed two indigenous vaccines the entire country is proud of. Even a Chief Minister of a Congress-ruled state indulged in such antics saying he would not allow the vaccine, she said.
“There is lack of coordination among the leaders of the Congress party and the high command as far as vaccination is concerned. Some of the Congress leaders are doing well but their good works are getting drowned in the cacophony of the confusing statements,” she said.
OPCC hits out at Centre over mismanagement
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Wednesday hit out at the Centre for the deteriorating Covid situation in the State. Former finance minister Panchanan Kanungo said the Centre and the BJD are now trying to divert attention of the people from the real issues after the inadequacies in handling of Covid situation has come to the fore.
Referring to the propaganda unleashed by the BJP to save image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the second wave swept the country, Kanungo said it is very unfortunate that people are dying by not getting oxygen. He also pointed out the chaotic scenes at vaccination centres all over the country when the BJP celebrated ‘Tika Mahotsav’ from April 11 to 14. He said it was not a mistake on the part of AICC president Sonia Gandhi to point out these drawbacks in the fight against Covid-19 of the Centre.