'Let Congress Vaccinate' online campaign launched by Karnataka Congress
Bengaluru, May 25: The Karnataka Congress on Tuesday launched 'Let Congress Vaccinate', an online campaign to create awareness about the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 and to build pressure on the government to allow it to directly procure them as per their Rs 100 crore plan.
The party had recently announced that all its legislators and MPs would pool in Rs 100 crore from their Local Area Development (LAD) funds to procure vaccines.
As part of the social media campaign, state Congress President D K Shivakumar, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Working President Eshwar Khandre, former ministers R V Deshpande, among other party leaders, shared video messages highlighting BJP governments "failure" to procure vaccine and inoculate people against the pandemic.
The party, in a release, claimed that more than 20,000 people lent their support to the campaign today and shared their videos on Twitter and Facebook,asking the BJP government to permit the Congress to procure directly and vaccinate the people of Karnataka.
"I request Congress workers to make people aware of how vaccination can defeat Covid, how the government has been slow in procuring vaccines, and how the Karnataka Congress has a proposal to directly procure vaccines, if only the government would let us," Shivakumar said.
He said the BJP government at the centre has not made enough vaccines available to Karnataka, choosing to export them instead, "for their own narrow PR gains."
"The consequence of this is that the health and well- being of our people has been compromised, thereby increasing the mortality rate in the state due to Covid."
Stating that Congress is firm on its Rs 100 crore plan and the funds would be utilised to directly procure vaccines from manufacturers and administered to the people, the KPCC chief said the party has repeatedly sought permission from the government for vaccination, but had not been granted it yet.
"On behalf of the Congress Party, we need your (people) wholehearted support so that we can build pressure on the government and we are able to show to them how vaccines can be procured and administered to people - in a totally transparent, fair and efficient manner," he added.
Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP government has failed miserably in the Covid front.
"It is a proven fact that people can be protected from Covid by vaccination.
The BJP government has botched-up the vaccination process and left the people of Karnataka in a miserable condition.
Today there is no system in place and people have to fend for themselves, he said.
I request Congress workers to make the people aware of how vaccination can defeat Covid, how the government has been slow in procuring vaccines, and how the Karnataka Congress has a proposal to directly procure vaccines, if only the government would let us. #LetCongressVaccinate pic.twitter.com/7dQZFzdHyZ
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) May 25, 2021
Experts have pointed that vaccination is the only way to prevent further waves of pandemic. It is unfortunate that @PMOIndia has done little to procure vaccines.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) May 25, 2021
We from @INCKarnataka, have a plan to fund ₹100 Cr+ for procurement.
I urge @CMofKarnataka to #LetCongressVaccinate pic.twitter.com/bx9hJsxXm0
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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.
