Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia slammed the Central Government for overlooking the needs of the citizens and accused the BJP Government of engaging in politics of lies as it gave only 3.5 lakh Covid shots to Delhi against an order of 1.34 crore vaccines. Sisodia said that the BJP Government supplied unlimited vaccines to foreign nations but limited the supply for Indian citizens.

He stressed that vaccines were the need of the hour not the sly politics the BJP Government was indulging in, which was based on lies and deception.

Sisodia said that by depleting the supply of vaccines for its own citizens and exporting the jabs to foreign nations, the Central Government had committed a grave crime. He underscored that the reasons behind the Central Government’s inability to distribute vaccines to State Governments was unclear.

The Deputy Chief Minister said, “At a time when the whole nation is suffering from Covid-19, the Central Government has turned a blind eye to the needs of the people of our nation.”

“The youth of our nation needs to be vaccinated. However, the Centre exported 6.5 crore doses of the vaccine to foreign countries. What is more astonishing is that the Central Government has blamed the Delhi Government, and insinuated that we only asked for 5.5 lakh doses.

This is a lie that has been served to the people of this nation in the times of a crisis,” he said.

Presenting documents procured from vaccine companies and signed letters attained from the Central Government, Sisodia said, “When the Central Government had decided in April that State Governments could directly tie-up with vaccine companies to sell the doses, the Delhi Government issued a letter seeking to acquire 1.34 crore doses for citizens between 18-45 years of age. But instead of receiving the shots, the Delhi Government received a letter from the Central Government stating that we would get just 3.59 lakh vaccines, out of which 92,840 doses were of Covaxin and 2,67,690 doses were of the Covishield vaccine.”

Condemning the Central Government for its flagrant behaviour, Sisodia said, “The Central Government is only interested in exporting vaccines to foreign nations.

 It is time for the Central Government to put an end to this politics of lies and deception and understand that we are in a full-fledged crisis. They need to open their eyes to all the suffering and pain the people of this nation are facing because of this deadly virus.”

Accusing the Central Government for escalating the crisis, he said, “When the whole nation was in agony due to the pandemic, the Central Government was busy fighting elections in West Bengal and created super-spreader events by holding massive election rallies and organising the Kumbh Mela.

Now, when it is time to actually step up and save lives, the Central Government is busy managing its image internationally and exporting vaccines abroad.”

“This apathy of the Centre is a grave crime. I request the Government to open its eyes to the suffering of the people and immediately make vaccines available in adequate numbers to the State Governments instead of mismanaging the crisis and indulging in politics of lies,” he said.