Where is the pandemic? I am here without a mask: Akhilesh Yadav

'Where is the pandemic?' he asked reporters in Lucknow, adding 'I am sitting before you (reporters) without wearing a mask'

Amid the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination dry run in the country, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday claimed that there was no 'coronavirus pandemic' in India.

''Where is the pandemic?" he told reporters in Lucknow, adding: "I am sitting before you (reporters) without wearing a mask."

''BJP is only trying to create fear in the minds of the people. It does not want the Opposition parties to hold any programs. BJP had earlier asked the people to bang thalis to drive away the virus,'' the SP president said.

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He further said that he won't get vaccinated as it was 'BJP's vaccine' and did not trust it.

''I have no faith in BJP's vaccine. We can not allow ourselves to be vaccinated by a BJP vaccine,'' Akhilesh said.

However, contradicting his earlier statement, Akhilesh also assured that the SP, if it formed the next government in Uttar Pradesh, would make the Covid-19 vaccine available to every person free of cost.

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The SP chief also sought to corner the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. He said BJP was a ''total failure'' in providing succour to the people during the pandemic

Akhilesh's remarks were sharply criticised by the UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. ''It is very unfortunate that a senior politician like Akhilesh Yadav has made such a remark. Akhilesh Yadav does not have faith in the vaccine and the people of the state do not have faith in him (Akhilesh),'' Maurya said.