Karnataka Congress pools in Rs 100 crore to procure vaccines

The Karnataka Congress on Friday announced that all its legislators and MPs would pool in Rs 100 crore from their local area development (LAD) funds to procure vaccines.

“This is an unprecedented decision in Karnataka,” Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Leader Siddaramaiah said.

“There are 95 MLAs and MLCs, one Lok Sabha MP and four Rajya Sabha MPs from the Congress in Karnataka. Each one will keep Rs 1 crore for vaccine procurement under their LAD funds. In total, we are setting aside Rs 100 crore for this purpose,” he said.

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Under the Karnataka Legislators LAD Scheme, each MLA and MLC gets Rs 2 crore per year to take up developmental works in their constituencies. Each MP gets Rs 5 crore.

“We’re not saying everything will become alright because we’re doing this, but it’s a helping hand,” Siddaramaiah, the Leader of the Opposition, said.

“Vaccination is the only way to combat Covid-19. The Centre and the state governments know this. But, PM Modi is asleep and so is Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. No preparation was done for vaccination,” the former chief minister said.

The Congress’ decision to pay for vaccine procurement comes after the state government temporarily suspended the vaccination drive for people in the 18-44 age bracket owing to shortage of doses. All available stock will be used for those above 45 years who are due for the second dose.

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Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar said his party would write to the CM on vaccine procurement. “We will ask for permission (to procure vaccines). We’ll go through a transparent way,” he said. “It’s the bound duty of all political parties to save lives. That’s what’s important now.”

But Siddaramaiah said the party will “discuss and figure out” how the Rs 100 crore corpus should be put to use.

This is not the first time the Congress has pooled in money during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the first wave last year, Shivakumar wrote a cheque for Rs 1 crore for the government to foot the travel cost of migrants who were leaving Karnataka. Also, Congress legislators bought thousands of tonnes of fruits and vegetables from farmers during the lockdown.