Bid to take credit for free vaccination not good: Maharashtra Congress

Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat on Monday said the decision on free vaccine against COVID19 for people of the state should be announced by the chief minister and an attempt by others to take credit for it was not goodThorats comments came a day after Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik said the state government will float global tenders for providing affordable and quality antiCOVID 19 vaccines for free to adult citizens below 45 years of ageThe NCP shares power in the state with the Shiv Sena and CongressWithout naming the NCP Thorat said a discussion on providing free vaccine was underway and it was not correct to make an announcement right away to get credit for itThis is not good the Congress leader told reportersNotably state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar recently said global tenders will be floated to purchase affordable and quality vaccine for citizens in the stateThorat said the Congresss stand over the vaccination process was clearOur party chief Sonia Gandhi said vaccines should be made available free of cost But the announcement should be made by the chief minister he saidWhen the vaccination drive opens on May 1 for those above 18 years of age the crowd at the inoculation centres will increaseThere may be chaos due to crowding leading to a rise in the number of COVID19 cases I have spoken to the chief secretary and told him that a policy should be framed A decision on this will be taken in two days he saidThe minister said it was the Centres responsibility to make available the vaccine doses to allThere were initial hiccups when the vaccination drive was opened for those aged above 45 Hence a policy should first be framed for opening the inoculation process for those above 18 years he saidMeanwhile Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the state government will take a decision on providing free vaccine to citizensThe state government does not see the crisis as an opportunity to play politics Raut told reportersThe Maha Vikas Aghadi government is taking all steps to save each life It doesnt need to indulge in politics in the time of crisis The opposition can give constructive suggestions the Rajya Sabha member saidHe said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the entire state cabinet were working hard to fight the pandemicThey are fighting for oxygen ventilators and beds he saidThe COVID19 cases in Mumbai are now coming down Raut said and expressed hope that the number of coronavirus cases will come down across the state in some daysThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever