The war between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal over the mass vaccination programme launched by the Centre since Monday has intensified in Odisha with both the parties accusing each other of trying to extract political mileage out of the drive.
While the BJP has alleged that the BJD was trying to appropriate undue credit for the programme by putting up chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s exclusive posters at the vaccination centres, some of which were torn by its workers, the BJD has attacked the saffron party for indulging in “cheap politics” over the issue.
Even BJD’s national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra and BJP national spokesperson Aparajita Sarangi, who is the BJP MP from Bhubaneswar, on Wednesday entered into a twitter war on the issue. “Central Government, whether its polio, BCG, measles, DPT, Hepatitis, Vitamin A. When did it become a State program, except now that it was forced upon the States & subsequently withdrawn. Hon’ble CM’s message has been put out across state calling for using Masks and COVID appropriate behaviour, it is nothing about vaccination. It is petty and shameful to do politics out of this. I am afraid you may be insecure about your political relevance and doing this narrow minded politics. However, thanks for wearing masks off late,” tweeted Patra.
Equally caustic was Sarangi’s tweet that said, “Odisha failed to procure vaccines, it sought Central Government’s support. Our PM Narendra Modi has come to the rescue of @CMO_Odisha. Basic courtesy demands that PM Modi’s photos with CM’s photo are put up at all vaccination points by state government. Height of insecurity and narrow mindedness!”
The BJD has hit back saying that success of the vaccination programme and rise in the popularity of the chief minister had unnerved the BJP, which was behaving in a vengeful manner. The party said that the Centre was not doing any favour to the state by sending vaccines. It was only doing what it was supposed to do.
The BJP workers for the last consecutive two days had created ruckus at various vaccination centres in Balasore, Dhenkanal, Berhampur and Angul protesting against the absence of posters of Modi and presence of only Naveen’s poster.
There were reports of party activists tearing up posters of the chief minister at vaccination centres. A BJP worker had torn off the inaugural ribbon at a vaccination centre just before the inauguration of the programme at the Gandhi Smruti Bhavan in Balasore.
“The Odisha government is in the habit of taking the credit by hijacking the different welfare schemes of the Central government,” Union minister Pratap Sarangi tweeted. He further tweeted, “Projecting the COVID vaccination programme of the central government as its own and hijacking the same by putting only the photograph of the chief minister pointing to cheap politics.”
Ganjam district BJD president Ramesh Chandra Chyaupatnaik told The Telegraph, “Under the federal principle, the Centre collects taxes from the states and it’s their job to provide vaccines to the state. It is unfortunate that the BJP is indulging in this kind of behaviour. They should remember that the Prime Minister had himself praised Naveen Babu over the successful vaccination programme. They are getting jealous and want to create a controversy out of nothing to get political mileage.”
