"Why has Rahul Gandhi not yet taken vaccine?" Ravi Shankar Prasad wrote on Twitter. (File)
Shortly after Rahul Gandhi's letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on what he calls the "catastrophic" impact of vaccinations "at a snail's pace", the BJP hit back with a question -- "Why has Rahul Gandhi not yet taken vaccine?"
In a series of tweets, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the Congress MP using descriptors like "arrogant" and "ignorant" and also called him a failed part-time politician.
"India is not facing vaccine starvation but Shri Gandhi is facing attention starvation. Why has Rahul Gandhi not yet taken vaccine? Is it an oversight or he doesn't want it or has he already taken one in many of his undisclosed trips to foreign locations but doesn't want to disclose," Mr Prasad tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi had wondered in his letter whether vaccine exports were an "oversight" to gain publicity at the cost of citizens.
"Was the export of vaccines also an oversight, like many other decisions of the government, or an effort to garner publicity at the cost of our own citizens," he had said.
The letter was seen to underscore Maharashtra's complaints of a vaccine shortage crisis and its charge that the state was not allotted enough vaccine shots compared to its population size.
In his rejoinder, Mr Prasad referred to the corruption allegations against Maharashtra's ruling coalition, which includes the Congress.
"Rahul Gandhi must know that shortage in Congress-ruled states is not of vaccines but of basic commitment towards health care. He should write letters to his party's governments to stop their vasooli (extortion) ventures and concentrate on administering the lakhs of vaccines they are sitting upon," the Union Minister and senior BJP leader wrote.
Responding to the Congress MP's demands like fast-tracking vaccine approvals, Mr Prasad said: "After failing as a part-time politician, has Rahul Gandhi switched to full time lobbying? First he lobbied for fighter plane companies by trying to derail India's acquisition programme. Now he is lobbying for pharma companies by asking for arbitrary approvals for foreign vaccines."
Fighting a pandemic is not a one-trick game, Mr Prasad sniped.
"Apart from vaccination, there needs to be adequate focus on testing, tracing and treating. Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't understand all this and his ignorance is compounded by his arrogance," said the Minister.