Tejashwi, Tej Pratap take Sputnik shots; face NDA taunts over choosing 'foreign' brand
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who had been facing flak from the ruling NDA in Bihar for his reluctance to get vaccinated against COVID-19, on Wednesday took the jab along with elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav. Both the sons of RJD national president Lalu Prasad took their Sputnik shots at the Medanta hospital in Patna.
"We took the Sputnik vaccine, A vaccine is a vaccine. What difference does it make whether it is Indian or foreign," Yadav told reporters afterwards.
Minutes after the two took the shots, former minister and JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar issued a sarcastic video statement.
"They are born in a rich family, to a father with tainted background who is a convict in a case of economic offence. No wonder they find Sputnik, developed in Russia, and not indigenous Covishield or Covaxin, to their taste", the JD(U) leader remarked, making an oblique reference to Lalu Prasads involvement in the fodder scam.
Prasad's bte noire Sushil Kumar Modi, a senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister, came out with a flurry of tweets saying the sons of Lalu Prasad took the jabs "belatedly" and they should now convince their father, and mother Rabri Devi, to get vaccinated.
"If Lalu Prasad is already vaccinated, the information should be made public. It would send across a positive message among the public. Also, Tejashwi, the leader of the opposition and Tej Pratap, an ex-minister for health, would have done better to have chosen a government hospital for taking the jabs," Modi said.
He pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and many other dignitaries have taken the shots at public health facilities and the brother duo "should avoid lending their heft to branding of private hospitals which are beyond the reach of the poor".
Incidentally, on the previous day when asked about the delay in getting vaccinated, Tejashwi Yadav had shot back "what is the hurry. I fall in the 18-44 years age group. This is the last category".
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