Rahul Gandhi's Veiled Jibe At New Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya; Asks 'No More Vaccine Shortage?'

Modi New Cabinet: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reacted to the reshuffle in Modi's cabinet. Prime Minister Modi expanded the Cabinet on Wednesday.

Rahul Gandhi | File Image

PM Modi's New Cabinet: Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled and expanded the Cabinet on Wednesday. He appointed 36 new leaders in the Council of Ministers and promoted 7 Ministers. 12 ministers including Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Information Technology and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar were discharged from their duties.

After the resignation of Dr. Harsh Vardhan as Health Minister, the opposition parties pounced on Modi Govt questioning his replacement as a failure to handle coronavirus pandemic. A day after the reshuffle as new ministers took office, Rahul Gandhi questioned, "Does this mean there will be no more shortage of vaccines?" 

Does this mean no more vaccine shortage?#Change

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 8, 2021

Many states including Karnataka, Rajasthan, and West Bengal have complained about the shortage of vaccines. Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram addressed that the first task of the new health minister should be to ensure a proper and uninterrupted supply of vaccines in the country.

Once again, vaccination has been suspended at several centres in Tamil Nadu because they have run out of vaccines.

The first task of the new Health Minister @mansukhmandviya will be to ensure adequate and uninterrupted supply of vaccines to all States

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) July 8, 2021

Earlier on Wednesday, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala tweeted that, "Prime Minister himself is the Chairman of the 'National Disaster Management Authority' which handles matters related to the pandemic. Is he going to take responsibility for his irresponsible behavior? Will he resign? Or will the health minister alone be a scapegoat?"

He said that the supreme leader is at fault and not his subordinates. He also said that merely changing leaders or appointing more leaders will not solve the problem of vaccination

BJP leader Mansukh Mandaviya, who belongs to Gujarat's Saurashtra, took charge of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today.