Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party President Bansidhar Bhagat said on Saturday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. A party event was held at his residence on August 24.
“I had undergone a Covid test yesterday [Friday] in which the result was positive,” Bhagat tweeted in Hindi. “I appeal to all the office-bearers and party workers who came in my contact in the last seven days to undergo a test. With all your blessings, I will soon be back among you.”
On August 24, several BJP leaders and media persons were present at Bhagat’s home when legislator Pranav Singh Champion was re-inducted into the party, after being suspended for over a year because a video of him dancing while brandishing guns went viral on social media, the Hindustan Times reported.
“Bhagat has asked all those party members who have come in his contact to undergo a test,” BJP Uttarakhand Vice President Devendra Bhasin said. “Apart from this, we are following all the guidelines of the health department.”
Bhasin said that Bhagat could not attend a BJP meeting on Friday as he was feeling uneasy. He added that Bhagat’s son, who is in Haldwani, has also tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We will soon sanitise the party office completely and will make arrangements for rapid antigen tests for the media persons who had attended the event at his residence on August 24,” the vice president said.
So far, several BJP leaders and Union ministers have tested positive for Covid-19. Eight central ministers, including Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah and Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are on the list. AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State for Water Resources Arjun Meghwal and Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary have also been found infected.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, state Health Minister Anil Vij, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and two MLAs have tested positive. Joint Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal, who led the Centre’s daily Covid-19 briefings in the initial months of the pandemic, also tested positive for the infection earlier this month.
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