COVID-19: Karnataka Cong kicks off free 1 lakh vaccination drive, Shivakumar takes inaugural shot

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) began the free vaccination drive for one lakh beneficiaries on Friday and party state unit chief DK Shivakumar took the inaugural shot at Davangere to kick off the campaign.

"Former Minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa has placed an order worth Rs 4 crore to administer the vaccine to people of his constituency. This shows that the Congress party and its leaders are committed to vaccinate people of Karnataka and protect them from COVID," Shivakumar said while talking to reporters at Davangere.

Shivakumar informed that the KPCC has already requested the government let it procure the vaccine of Rs 100 crore and vaccinate everyone for free.

"The party representatives will use money from their MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) and MLA-LAD (MLA Local Area Development) funds for these Rs 100 crore. But the government has not responded to our demand despite repeated requests," Congress leader said.

"The party has already received around 10,000 injections all of whom will be administered to people of Davangere for free," the KPCC chief said asserting the drive will be taken to other parts of the state in coming days.

He informed that the second round of 50,000 injections of the Covishield vaccine is expected to arrive next week.

The Congress party has established a vaccination center at Durgamma Mariamma Temple Davangere where people irrespective of party affiliations will be administered vaccines. "I request everyone to take the vaccination as it is the most reliable way to defeat COVID," he said.

"BJP has not made enough vaccines available to Karnataka, choosing to export them instead for their own narrow PR Gains. The consequence of this is that the health and well-being of our people have been compromised, thereby increasing the mortality rate in our State due to COVID," Shivakumar said asserting that "the Congress will not leave any stone unturned to procure and vaccinate people of Karnataka".

( With inputs from ANI )