In an unexpected move, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu has said that he may enquire into the allegations made by Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal. BS Sidhu also distanced himself from the issue, saying he is not involved in vaccine purchase. “I don’t have control over vaccines. I just look over treatment, testing, sampling of COVID19 and vaccination camps. We will definitely set up an inquiry, I myself can inquire about the matter,” said BS Sidhu.

Badal has alleged that the Punjab government procured vaccines at Rs 400 per dose and sold it to private hospitals for Rs 1060 per dose. Badal also demanded that the health minister should be sacked. “Punjab Health minister Balbir Singh should be sacked. Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan should also not act like a market salesman for private institutions by encouraging people to get vaccinated at inflated rates,” he said.

On the other hand, the BJP hit back at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi saying that he should take care of the Congress-ruled states before lecturing others. “Rahul Gandhi should first look after Congress ruled states rather than giving lectures to others,” said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.

He said that the whole of Punjab is affected by coronavirus and that the vaccination drive is not being managed properly there. “For the last 6 months, they have been witnessing an internal fight. The entire Punjab government and the party leaders are in Delhi for the last 3-4 days, who will take care of Punjab in their absence?” said Javadekar adding that there are news reports that the Congress government in the state is profiteering from vaccines. Javadekar said that Congress is committing the sin of ignoring the common people of Punjab for their internal politics.

The union minister said that the Punjab government has been provided more than 1.40 lakh doses of Covaxin at Rs 400 and they’ve given it to 20 private hospitals at Rs 1000.

Javadekar said that the Punjab government had demanded decentralisation of vaccination and now it has been done, so they are asking to centralise it back.