Day after RS polls, BJP MLA, wife test Covid +ve in MP

BHOPAL: A Bharatiya Janata Party legislator and his wife tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday a day after he cast his vote during the Rajya Sabha polls held at the assembly premises on Friday, according to legislators from Congress and BJP. The MLA had also attended the BJP legislature party meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.

The MLA happens to be the second legislator in the state to be infected with Covid-19. Earlier, a Congress MLA tested positive for the virus. He turned up in a personal protective equipment (PPE) kit in the state assembly on Friday afternoon to cast his vote. He, however, had been given the facility of a postal ballot that he didn’t go for, legislators said.

The state Congress has accused the BJP MLA of putting in peril the life of other legislators including chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who chaired the BJP legislature party meetings .

State Congress spokesperson Ajay Yadav said, “We have learnt that the BJP MLA got samples of his wife and himself tested for coronavirus two days back but still he attended the BJP legislature party meetings. He has committed a grave offence by concealing the information about his health and should be booked.”

“When my wife complained about fever, we got our samples tested on Friday. Now we are going to be hospitalised,” the MLA said over phone.

As many as 206 MLAS cast their votes on Friday during the Rajya Sabha polls.