Karnataka's global tender for vaccines get response from 2 firms to supply Sputnik
Bengaluru, May 26: In response to global tender floated by Karnataka to procure two crore Covid-19 vaccines, two suppliers have come forward to supply Russia's Sputnik V and Sputnik Lite vaccines.
Mumbai- based Bulk MRO Industrial Supply Pvt Ltd and Bengaluru-based Thulasi Systems have responded to the tender that closed on Monday, and no bids have come from major vaccine manufacturers, official sources said.
While Bulk MRO Industrial Supply Pvt Ltd has offered to supply Sputnik V, Thulasi Systems has said it can also supply the Sputnik Lite, single dose vaccines.
The documents including financial bids will be scrutinised, and only after that negotiations on price and other things may happen, an official said, adding that "the government will take a final decision on procurement after going through all aspects and procedures required."
However, the government is also reportedly mulling over extending the time limit for bids, looking for more response.
With the country battling the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, several states have called for global tender to procure the vaccines.
The Karnataka government had recently approved Rs 843 crore for the vaccine procurement.
The state government is also directly procuring domestically manufactured vaccines- Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin- aimed at increasing the pace of vaccination in the State.
According to information shared by the state's Health Minister K Sudhakar recently, Karnataka has so far received 12,91,280 doses of Covaxin under Central quota and 1,44,170 doses under direct procurement.
While, total Covishield doses received from the Centre is 1.05 crore, 13.54 lakh doses have been purchased directly by the state.
With a shortage of vaccines, the government has limited vaccination for the 18-44 age category to only select priority groups, for now, while the vaccination to other age groups is going on slowly.
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Cong performed better in Kerala, anti-incumbency trends influenced WB, TN: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Congress had largely met or exceeded expectations in several States, even as results in some regions reflected shifting voter sentiments.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said the party accepted the mandate in Assam while performing better than anticipated in Kerala.
He also pointed to possible anti-incumbency trends influencing outcomes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
“In Assam, we got the expected result, and we accept the people’s mandate. In Kerala, we have won more seats than expected. We anticipated around 76 to 80, but we have gone up to around 95,” Siddaramaiah said.
In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there may have been an anti-incumbency trend, and that could have influenced the results, he added.
Siddaramaiah also extended his congratulations to a new political entrant in Tamil Nadu, noting the emergence of a different electoral dynamic in the State.
“I congratulate the new entrant who has achieved success there,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said electoral outcomes in some States had diverged from the party’s internal assessments, reflecting evolving voter expectations.
“We expected a certain trend, but the results have been different. Political reading was wrong in some places,” he said.
“People were looking for change in some States, and that has been reflected in the results,” Shivakumar, who is also the Congress Karnataka unit president, said.
Referring to Kerala, he said the Congress-led alliance had benefited from public sentiment.
“There was already an expectation based on local body elections, and people had shown confidence in us. That has translated into a strong result,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
On Tamil Nadu, he acknowledged that the scale of political shift had come as a surprise.
“We expected to secure around 30 to 40 per cent of the vote share, but such a major shift was not anticipated. It shows that voter expectations were different,” he said.
Shivakumar added that electoral outcomes underscored the need for better political assessment in future.
“We have to understand these changes carefully. Political reading cannot go wrong like this,” he said.
