'Free Covid-19 vaccine for all in Tamil Nadu', announces CM Palaniswami in sharp response to BJP's Bihar manifesto

In sharp response to BJP’s Bihar manifesto, Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami has announced free Covid-19 vaccine for all its people once it is ready.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday announced that his government will provide Covid-19 vaccine to all the people in the state free of cost, once it is ready. Addressing media in Pudukkottai district of the state, Palaniswami said, “Once the COVID19 vaccine is ready, it will be provided to all people of the state free of cost.”

The Tamil Nadu chief minister’s promise of free Covid-19 vaccine comes after the BJP in its manifesto for the Bihar ahead of polls in the state promised free Covid vaccination for all in Bihar. Earlier today, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had released the BJP’s manifesto for the three-phased Bihar elections and promised that after the approval of the coronavirus vaccine from ICMR, every person in the State will get vaccinated free of cost.

“As soon as COVID-19 vaccine will be available for production at a mass scale every person in Bihar will get free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto,” Sitharaman said. 

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The senior BJP leader said that Bihar is one State where all citizens are politically sensitive and well informed. “They know and understand the promises a party makes. If anyone raises questions on our manifesto, we can answer them with confidence as we fulfill what we promised,” she added.

Sitharaman said that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Bihar has seen a sharp rise under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule, it has grown from 3 per cent to 11.3 per cent in the State in the last 15 years of NDA govt and not during the 15 years of jungle raj.

“It was made possible because our government gave priority to good governance for people. Only 34 per cent eligible got pucca house in Lala Yadav’s 15 years tenure. But in the last 15 years, 96 per cent of eligible people got the pucca house,” she said.

Appealing to all voters in the State to vote for NDA and make it win, Sitharaman said, “Nitish Kumar will be the Chief Minister of Bihar for the next 5 years. Under his rule, Bihar will become a progressive and developed state of India.”

The election document was unveiled by Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior leaders Bhupender Yadav, Nityanand Rai, Ashwini Choubey, and Pramod Kumar. Union minister and Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad and other BJP leaders were also present at the event.

The manifesto comes a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi hits the campaign trail. The BJP’s manifesto speaks about the Prime Minister’s vision of making ‘Atmanirbhar Bihar’. Major political parties of Bihar are busy wooing voters and releasing manifesto for the Assembly polls which is going to be conducted in Bihar in three phases and counting will take place on November 10.

The BJP is contesting the Bihar election in alliance with Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United). The JD(U) is contesting on 122 seats and BJP on 121 in the 243-member state Assembly. The ‘Mahagathbandhan’ – an alliance of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left parties has already released its manifesto. The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) led by Chirag Paswan released its manifesto on Wednesday for Bihar Assembly poll in Patna.

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