Karnataka Congress drafts ₹100 crore plan to procure Covid vaccines

DK Shivakumar, the president of the state unit of the party, said that ₹10 crore will come from the Congress and the remaining ₹90 crore can come from funds of their MLA/MLC funds

The Congress in Karnataka on Friday said it has prepared a ₹100 crore plan to procure vaccines directly from manufacturers.

DK Shivakumar. (File photo)

DK Shivakumar, the president of the state unit of the party, said that ₹10 crore will come from the Congress and the remaining ₹90 crore can come from funds of their MLA/MLC funds.

“I appeal to the Yediyurappa government to please allow us to use the MLA/MLC funds to procure vaccines directly in a transparent manner because the Modi and Yediyurappa governments are failing to do so for months now,” Shivakumar said in a statement.

“Since the Central, and state governments have collectively failed to vaccinate the masses, we want to do it ourselves. We just need two small permissions, one from the Centre and the other from the state government. My appeal to the BJP to not let politics come in the way and in the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat, allow the Congress to directly procure and administer vaccines,” he said.

However, there remains little clarity on how the party proposes to procure the vaccines as the entire country is currently facing shortages.

There wasn’t an immediate response from the government.

Karnataka has suspended vaccination for those in the 18-44 age group amid shortage of vaccines.