Nitish Kumar disapproves of BJP vaccine remark by Akhilesh Yadav

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday voiced disapproval of the BJP vaccine remark made by his former Uttar Pradesh counterpart Akhilesh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party president's comment seemed to be aimed at grabbing headlines, he said.

Kumar said the Bihar government is making all efforts to ensure effective inoculation of the people of the state once the vaccine is available.

''People say such things unmindful of the fact that these have a high probability of appearing in the papers next day .... It is not my wont, though, to comment on words spoken by others,'' said Kumar in reply to queries on Yadav's controversial statement.


The former UP chief minister has been under attack for his averment that BJP leaders should get themselves vaccinated first.

The SP leader later clarified that he did not intend to belittle scientists involved in developing the COVID-19 vaccine and that his criticism was aimed at the saffron partys attempts to garner publicity in the midst of the global health crisis.

Kumar said the Bihar government is busy preparing the ground for administering the vaccine to the people of the state in accordance with the Centres guidelines and priority will be accorded to those who are more than 50 years of age or are involved in professions like health care.

The Bihar chief minister, who returned to his fourth consecutive term in power after the recent assembly elections, also said he was planning to revive his public interaction programme which has been discontinued for some time.

''Janta ke darbaar mein mukhyamantri (the Chief Minister in the court of the people) will recommence. We are just waiting for the dust to settle on COVID-19 since the number of visitors has to be regulated,'' he added.