'Vaccine of ₹400 reaching people at ₹1,500': Anurag Thakur explains Congress's 'One two ka four policy'

Finance minister of state Anurag Thakur on Thursday brought serious allegations of vaccine black marketing against Punjab and Rajasthan governments and said the chief ministers of these two states, the favourites of the Gandhi family, are behind this "corruption".

The Centre buys vaccines from manufacturers and sells them to the states at ₹400 per dose, but the Punjab government is selling those vaccines to private hospitals at ₹1,060 for which those hospitals are collecting ₹1,560 from the public, the minister said.

"The vaccine doses which are to be given free are now translating into ₹3,120. This is Congress's favourite one two ka four policy," the minister tweeted.

The Rajasthan government is two steps ahead of the Punjab government, the minister said alleging that it has wasted 11.50 lakh vaccine doses. "Now, thousand of vaccine doses are found in garbage dumps. Doing this, the Congress has actually thrown public's trust into the garbage," the minister said.

The vaccination has become a Centre versus opposition state issue shortly after the vaccination drive began in January as opposition-ruled states, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, complained of an inadequate supply of vaccines. Recently, the Union health ministry pointed out that Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh — both opposition-ruled states — have wasted the maximum number of vaccine doses, which the states refuted and said was not based on full facts.