Panaji (Goa) [India], November 25 (ANI): Taking a swipe at the Opposition parties for "misleading people" regarding the COVID-19 vaccines during its initial stage, Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda on Thursday said that they who "bashed the vaccine then and called it names, have themselves received the jabs."Addressing the BJP workers here, Nadda said, "When COVID started in 2020, a task force was set up in April, and India was prepared to develop its own vaccines. Within 9 months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave two vaccines to India. Parties coming here now used to tell others to not get vaccinated, that trials haven't been done properly.""They used to call it "Modi teeka", "BJP ka teeka". Today, they have all received the vaccine. I ask them, "how was Modi teeka?" Did you receive protection from disease? They misled people. They opposed the people of India while opposing PM and now they're asking for votes," he added.

Lauding the COVID-19 vaccination coverage of the nation, Nadda said that 118 crore vaccine doses have been administered in India- "the world's largest such programme, under the leadership of PM Modi".

"Goa is one of the front-runners of this programme," he added.

Remembering Former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Nadda said, "Late Manohar Parrikar had the dream of Golden Goa. He wanted to present the state as an example to the rest of the nation. Goa is currently holding the Indian International Film Festival as it always does. This was planned and executed by Parrikar Ji and his vision."He also said that BJP has come a long way from 2017 in Goa and is being loved by the people here.

"In Goa also, BJP has been continuously moving ahead. Here, in 2017, we got 32 per cent votes and we formed a coalition government. After that, in the Zilla Parishad, local body elections, the people of Goa gave a lot of love to the BJP, with which we have been moving forward," he said.

The BJP chief is on a two-day visit to Goa from Wednesday. Assembly polls in Goa are due in early 2022.

Goa Assembly has a strength of 40 members out of which BJP currently has 17 legislators and enjoys the support of legislators from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), Vijay Sardesai of the Goa Forward Party (GFP), and three independents. GFP and MGP each have three MLAs. Congress, on the other hand, has 15 MLAs in the house. (ANI)