Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday further ramped up the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s recent rhetoric over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, declaring that once the vaccine is ready, it will be made available for everyone in Madhya Pradesh free of cost.
The chief minister on this day took to his official handle on Twitter to announce the news.
"We have taken several effective steps to safeguard the people against COVID-19," he wrote, "today it is completely controlled."
Preparations for the coronavirus vaccine are going on in full steam, he wrote, adding, "As soon as the vaccine is ready, it will be made available to every citizen of Madhya Pradesh free of cost."
This comes after the BJP promised free vaccination of every citizen in Bihar ahead of the state legislative assembly polls. The BJP released its poll manifesto on Thursday for the three-phased Bihar elections. In it, the party promised that after the approval of the coronavirus vaccine from ICMR, every person in the state will get vaccinated free of cost.
“In the fight against coronavirus, the NDA government has set an example in the country. It is our resolution that as soon as the vaccine will be approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), every person in the State will be vaccinated," the manifesto said.
Union Finance Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman released the party’s manifesto.
"As soon as COVID-19 vaccine will be available for production at a mass scale every person in Bihar will get free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto," Sitharaman said.