Jaipur, May 28 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday rubbished the allegations of the BJP that 11.5 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines in the state have been wasted.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to do politics by spreading lies and bringing down the morale of frontline workers.
"The news reports alleging that 11.5 lakh corona vaccines got wasted in Rajasthan is untrue," Gehlot said in a statement posted on his Twitter handle.
"As of May 26, over 1.63 crore people have been vaccinated in the state. Out of this, 3.38 lakh doses have got wasted, which is just 2 per cent. This is much lower than the national average of 6 per cent of the vaccine wastage. The Centre has kept the wastage limit of 10 per cent," he further said.
Gehlot added, "It seems that deliberate attempts are being made to mislead the public in the pandemic. We are working to fight the coronavirus by taking everyone along, but the BJP is trying to bring down the morale of the corona warriors who have been working day and night for the last 14 months."
The Chief Minister said the entire nation is watching the "politics of lies" being done by the BJP at the time of the raging pandemic.
"I will appeal the opposition leaders of Rajasthan that instead of creating all kinds of disputes, pressurise the Centre by looking at the interests of the state so that the state can get more vaccines," Gehlot said.
Gehlot urged the state-level BJP leaders to push the Centre for free vaccination.
He said the issue of vaccine wastage was raised in other states also.
Gehlot said it was alleged that 30.2 per cent vaccines in Chhattisgarh and 37.3 per cent in Jharkhand have been wasted while the chief ministers of both the states have reported wastage of 0.95 per cent in Chhattisgarh and 4.65 per cent in Jharkhand, respectively.
Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said in a statement that only 3.38 lakh doses of vaccine were wasted, which is only 2 per cent of the total doses used so far.
