BJP digs out Mamata’s February letter, says she’s passing the buck

NEW DELHI: Reacting to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s latest letter to Narendra Modi, BJP on Wednesday cited her previous letter to the Prime Minister in which she had sought liberalised vaccine procurement policy so that states could purchase or import vaccines on their own.
BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya said that on February 24, Mamata wrote a letter to the Prime Minister seeking that states be allowed to procure vaccines on their own. “Now that the central government has decentralised the process, CMs like her, unnerved by the responsibility, are passing the buck back to the Centre,” he said.
Banerjee on Wednesday wrote to the PM, urging to ‘speedily import vaccines’ from global manufacturers. She suggested the PM to ‘encourage world and national players (vaccine manufacturers) to open up franchise operations’. She said her government was ready to provide land and all required support for manufacturing vaccines.
After opening up vaccination for the 18-44 years group, state governments are to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers.
About 10 crore people in West Bengal and 140 crore people in the country need vaccination, but only a microscopic percentage has been covered, Banerjee said.