Bengaluru: In a press conference held on Friday May14, alongside former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah, KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar said that they have prepared a Rs 100 crore plan to procure COVID-19 vaccines directly from manufacturers and administer them to the people of Karnataka.

Shivakumar said, “Since BJP governments at the Centre and Karnataka have collectively failed to vaccinate the masses, we want to do it ourselves.”

He appealed to the BJP to not let politics come in the way and in the spirit of Atmanirbhar Bharat allow Congress to directly procure and administer vaccines.

Currently, vaccine procurement rules in India allowed central and state governments, hospitals and industries to directly procure vaccines.

Shivakumar said Rs10 crore would be contributed by the Karnataka Congress Party Committee (KPCC) fund. Another Rs90 crore will be mobilised from the Congress MLA or MLC funds.

He said that the MPs, MLAs and MLCs of the Congress, who are 95 in number have decided to donate at least Rs one crore each to procure vaccine.  “This is an unprecedented decision in the history of Karnataka,” he said.