JP Nadda bashes opposition for 'baseless allegations' against COVID vaccination drive

Agra: BJP chief JP Nadda Sunday (August 8) said the government managed the COVID-19 crisis effectively, while the Opposition behaved irresponsibly and made "baseless allegations" around vaccines and the ongoing inoculation drive.

Nadda praised the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's in the state in tackling the pandemic.

"So far, we have given 50 crore doses to people and by December, we will vaccinate 135 crore people of India. It is the largest and the fastest vaccination program in the world," Nadda said.

On the second day of his visit to Uttar Pradesh, he took part in an organisational meeting here with party workers which was also attended by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

They were welcomed by party workers who showered flower petals on them from Kheria airport till the venue of the organisational meet at a hotel in the city.

Speaking at the meet, Nadda said the BJP government managed the COVID-19 crisis effectively, while the opposition parties behaved irresponsibly. He also added that some of the opposition leaders made baseless allegations about vaccines and called it a "BJP vaccine".

"How such narrow-minded people (Opposition) will lead such a big state?" he said.

Just as the vaccine was being rolled out in the country in January, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had called it the "vaccine of the BJP" and said he would not take the shot.

"How can I trust the vaccine, which will be used for vaccination by the BJP? We cannot get vaccinated by the BJP''s vaccine," Akhilesh Yadav had said.

Nadda also lauded frontline and key workers. "I can feel doctors' mental situation while working during the coronavirus pandemic and I appreciate your valuable effort. I thank you for your efforts. We have lost many doctors during the COVID-19 crisis."

Talking about tackling the future COVID-19 crisis, he said, "We are going to train 4 lakh volunteers for 2 lakh villages who would help health workers to tackle the future crisis of COVID."

There were 385 medical colleges in the country in 2014 and now there are 532, he said, adding, there are 88,000 medical seats now as against 52,000 in 2014.