PATNA: RJD leader
Tej Pratap Yadav joined those opposition party leaders in the state who were demanding that PM
Narendra Modi should take the
Covid-19 vaccine first. “I have no objection to taking the
Covid-19 vaccine. But PM Narendra Modi should take the first shot. Others will also follow him,” the MLA from Hasanpur and former state health minister told the media in Vrindavan, the place he visits frequently.
Reacting to Tej Pratap’s statement, senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi said RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap made this statement to appease devout ‘maulanas’. “What else can one expect from a man who couldn’t read his oath as a minister?” he said.
State health minister Mangal Pandey also said, “Tej Pratap earlier served as the health minister and he should know that the vaccines are approved after several stages of clinical tests. Such a statement was not expected from a man who had served as the health minister.”
Reacting to Tej’s statement, JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha said his brother and the leader of opposition, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, should make his party’s stand clear on vaccination.
Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai also took a dig at Tej for making “baseless and frivolous” statements on vaccination.
Taj’s comment came barely two days after Congress legislature party leader Ajit Sharma raised question over the vaccines. Sharma, in a statement, said the Centre should have waited for the third phase of clinical trials before approving the vaccines.
“As people are wary of the vaccines, the PM and the BJP leaders should take the first shot,” Sharma had said.
Earlier, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav had said that he would not get vaccinated as he didn’t trust the “BJP’s vaccines”.