Sisodia flags jab shortage, says Centre has no concrete plan to manage Covid

The BJP on Thursday asked the AAP government in Delhi for a white paper on issues related to Covid-19, asking if the number of deaths was “fudged” to keep the official tally down.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday criticised the BJP-led Centre’s Covid-19 management and said the Union government didn’t have any “concrete plan”, as he flagged vaccine shortages across the country despite a ₹35,000 crore allocation in the Union budget.

Sisodia was responding to BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s press conference earlier in the day, where he alleged that Covid-19 death figures in the Capital were underrecorded. (HT Photos)

Sisodia was responding to BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s press conference earlier in the day, where he alleged that Covid-19 death figures in the Capital were underrecorded.

“It is evident that Sambit Patra and the BJP are neither concerned about the shortage of vaccines nor a potential third wave. He only went on abusing [Delhi chief minister] Arvind Kejriwal in his press conference. It shows that the BJP has no concrete Covid management plan. I was hoping that he [Patra] would share information about the Centre approving new vaccines, or that he would shed light on the budget allocation of ₹36,000 crore for vaccines. But he did not...,” said Sisodia.

“This is the BJP’s new tactic — blame Kejriwal for everything. People in the country want vaccines, they don’t want to hear baseless rants about Kejriwal. People are asking the BJP why they sell vaccines to other countries. Were they clueless about a Covid-19 wave? Where have you spent ₹36,000 crore meant for vaccines? Where are the vaccines? Why are vaccine centres being forced to be suspended across countries? Why does the private sector have so much stock?... [The BJP] leadership should tell their leaders to focus on vaccines and Covid-19 management, instead of wasting time on using filthy language against Kejriwal. BJP should also accept that the country’s vaccine programme is in a mess because of them,” he added.

The BJP on Thursday asked the AAP government in Delhi for a white paper on issues related to Covid-19, asking if the number of deaths was “fudged” to keep the official tally down.

BJP spokesperson Patra hit out at Kejriwal over the number of “unaccounted” deaths, citing a media report that the MCDs issued 34,750 death certificates for April and May while the official Covid tally for the period was 13,201. “We want to hold the AAP accountable for what has happened,” Patra said.

“Delhi’s fatality rate of 2.9% is more than double the overall national rate of 1.3%, he said. Did you fudge death numbers...,” Patra said, addressing Kejriwal.