Lucknow, January 1: Hours after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav stoked a row by suggesting that he would not be inoculated with the "BJP's vaccine", his senior party colleague Ashutosh Sinha stirred another controversy. Adding to the doubt stoked by Akhilesh, the Mirzapur MLC said people fear the vaccine can even turn them "impotent".

"COVID-19 vaccine might contain something, which can cause harm. Tomorrow, people will say vaccine was given to kill/decrease population. You can even become impotent, anything can happen," the senior SP leader was reported as saying. Bharat Biotech's Covaxin Gets CDSCO Panel Nod, India's 2nd Vaccine Candidate to Receive Emergency Use Approval.

Earlier today, Akhilesh said he would not get vaccinated till the government headed by his party returns to power in the state. The inoculation programme under the BJP-led regime could not be trusted, the former chief minister said.

"I am not going to get vaccinated for now. How can I trust BJP's vaccine, when our government will be formed everyone will get free vaccine. We cannot take BJP's vaccine," Akhilesh said.

Update by ANI

Akhilesh's remarks had drawn flak from the ruling BJP, which accused him of politicising the sensitive issue of immunisation. The party leaders accused him of practising "petty politics" and called his remarks "unfortunate".

“Akhilesh Yadav's statement that he 'won't get vaccinated as it's a BJP vaccine' is very unfortunate...What can be more unfortunate than a young leader linking COVID-19 vaccine with a political party. It shows Akhilesh Yadav can't think above politics," Union Minister and BJP leader Anurag Thakur said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2021 11:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).