New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced free vaccination for all above 18 years of age, Congress leader and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh alleged that the government was only concerned about headlines and it never bothered about vaccination deadlines.
Addressing a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Ramesh said, "The Congress repeatedly raised the demand for free vaccination for all. Former PM Manmohan Singh had sent 5 suggestions for vaccine strategy on April 18 then on April 20, I had made a demand for one nation, one price. On May 2, 13 like-minded opposition parties had demanded a free mass vaccination programme across the county, which was again repeated by the leaders of these political parties on May 12."
"The PM tried to make a virtue out of a necessity after the Supreme Court asked him to produce the file. I am sure, there is no file as this is a government of headlines. It does not move according to any deadlines and these headlines keep shifting. To complete vaccination by December, 80 lakh vaccinations per day is required but the question is from where the vaccines will come in order to do that," he said.
"The party has been writing letters to PM Modi regarding free vaccines... even Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Rahul Gandhi wrote letters to him," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also questioned the PM for 25 per cent allocation of vaccine to private hospitals. "On what basis, on what price, the private hospitals will deliver the vaccination is not clear. The party had demanded free vaccination for all at every vaccination centre," he said.
The party also demanded transparency in the allocation of vaccines to the states and a Parliament session for discussing the policy and approval to fresh budgets required for vaccinating all.
Ramesh said there should be no discrimination in vaccine distribution and the government should follow the principle of cooperative federalism.
The Congress leader said the government has earmarked Rs 35,000 crore for vaccines in the country and the same was passed in Parliament.
Citing a news report, he said a total of Rs 50,000 crore would be spent on vaccination as per the latest announcement of free inoculations to all Indians in government hospitals.