Now, IP Singh from Akhilesh's SP says COVID vaccine will 'kill poor'; deletes tweet later

Continuing vaccine politics even before day one of the massive COVID-19 vaccination drive, a Samajwadi Party leader has resorted to fearmongering on Twitter. However, he deleted his tweet later. Samajwadi Party spokesperson IP Singh on Friday said that vaccinations can kill the poor people of the country. He opined that in order to avoid any calamity, the BJP workers and supporters should first get vaccinated. However, he deleted his tweet minutes later. A week ago, Singh had issued another controversial remark on bird flu cases in various states. He had said that bird flu cases are coming up because PM Modi fed the birds, referring to PM's pictures with peacock and other birds. 

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Akhilesh Yadav: 'Won't take BJP's vaccine'

This comes after his party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, had said that 'I will not get vaccinated, that too on BJP's vaccine (COVID-19), as I don't trust it,' at a press conference in Lucknow. He had also added that when his government comes to power, the vaccine will be provided free. "I will not get vaccinated, that too BJP's vaccine. I don't trust it. When our govt will come, the vaccine will be free. We will not get BJP's vaccine." 

Other parties have also been part of vaccine politics. RJD leader and MLA Tej Pratap Yadav had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should first take the vaccine shot. Questioning the efficacy of the vaccine, he said that after PM Modi the rest of the country can take the vaccine. His statements are in line with the statements given by Congress leader Priyank Kharge who asked PM Modi to take COVAXIN shot before administering it to civilians. 

Moreover, Congress UP chief Ajay Kumar Lallu had cast aspersions over the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and said that CM Yogi Adityanath should take the first dose. Speaking to ANI, Lallu opined that in order to ensure the safety of people and to build trust in minds of citizens regarding the vaccine, CM Yogi should be the first one to take the vaccine shot. The UP Congress has also decided to gherao the Raj Bhavan over farm laws issue. 

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Similarly, Congress MP Manish Tewari questioned the vaccine approval by DCGI and slammed the BJP government."The BJP government has politically misused the COVID-19 pandemic in its entirety. The controversy over the vaccine is its latest manifestation. Who is going to get himself vaccinated with a vaccine that has question marks on its reliability? The BJP government has done a great disservice to that company which must have invested crores of rupees in research and development. In their quest to prove their 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' they have licensed a vaccine whose phase III trials are not complete. They are thinking about their short term political gain. They are not bothered about the lives of 130 crore Indians,"

Congress leader Priyank Kharge on the other hand, said that the Congress party "is just demanding the data and wants the procedure to be followed." He further said that if the Prime Minister thinks that the Covaxin vaccine is good enough, "then he should first get injected with it and should not experiment with others."

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