Karnataka: Congress to raise Rs 100 crore to procure vaccines

BENGALURU: The state unit of Congress on Friday announced that MPs, MLAs and MLCs will use their Local Area Development fund to the tune of Rs 100 crore for procuring vaccines. The fund can be used to buy 30 lakh doses of vaccine at the current rate.
KPCC president DK Shivakumar and opposition leader Siddaramaiah announced that the party will provide Rs 10 crore from internal funds and raise the remaining Rs 90 crore from the development fund of every MLA and MLC. “This is an unprecedented decision in Karnataka. Our 95 MPs, MLAs and MLCs will donate at least Rs 1 crore each,” Siddaramaiah said.
He said the party will write to chief minister BS Yediyurappa to utilise it for vaccine procurement. “We need permissions from the central and state governments to allow diversion of LAD funds for vaccine procurement,’’ he said.
Shivakumar said BJP should allow Congress to directly procure and administer vaccines. “Currently, vaccine procurement rules in India allow central and state governments, hospitals and industries to directly procure vaccines. They should let us buy them,’’ he added.