CM ducks floor test again, SC to take call Coronavirus count now 138

■ Continued from Page 1 outbreak as well as the pending case in the Supreme Court relating to the matter to skip the floor test.

Besides, he reiterated his stand on the 16 rebel Congress MLAs, lodged in a resort in Bengaluru in Karnataka since over a week, that he could not take the floor test unless their “release” were secured.

In a late evening development on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker N.P. Prajapati wrote a letter to the governor seeking his intervention to secure the release of the 16 rebel Congress MLAs. Mr Prajapati said he had received their resignation letters through other persons and had reason to doubt them since the kin of one of them has move the court seeking to rescue him.

The Supreme Court, while hearing the petition filed by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with nine BJP legislators seeking a floor test by the Kamal Nath government within 48 hours, on Tuesday served notices to the chief minister and the Assembly secretariat to respond to it within 24 hours.

In another development, 22 rebel Congress MLAs, including six former ministers, holed up in a resort in Bengaluru, appeared in public for the first time on Tuesday to hold a press conference to deny the charges made by the chief minister that they were held “captive” by the BJP.

The MLAs, considered staunch loyalists of Mr Scindia, said they were given short shrift by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and chief minister Kamal Nath and hence decided to resign from the Assembly in protest.

The resignation of six of the 22 rebel Congress MLAs has been accepted by the Assembly Speaker.

The legislators said they would return to Bhopal only if assured of their security by Central forces.

In another development, the BJP Tuesday attacked the Kamal Nath government for resorting to the “hasty posting” of Congress leaders as heads of different commissions of the state government even though “it has been reduced to a minority”.

A BJP delegation led by former chief minister and BJP national vice-president Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave a memorandum to the governor in the evening demanding the rescinding of all these decisions by the state government.

The state government has appointed Congress leaders Shobha Ojha, Abhay Tiwari and J.P. Dhanopia as chairpersons of the state women’s commission, youth commission and backward castes commission in the last two days.

■ Continued from Page 1 Infectious Diseases Hospital in Beliaghata, where he has been kept in a separate ward in isolation after he tested positive, a senior health department official said. His parents and driver too have been kept in isolation as a precautionary measure. According to sources, the teenager had attended a birthday party in London, where he is suspected to have been infected by the virus.

Around 5,700 people across the country are being kept under community surveillance through health workers, the health ministry said. Health minister Harsh Vardhan lauded the efforts of doctors and paramedics in dealing with the Covid-19 cases as he briefed the Rajya Sabha. The government has clarified that amid the rising cases, no community transmission of the virus has been seen so far, and there have only been a few cases of local transmission.

The Indian government on Tuesday issued advisories asking all offices to get thermal scanners, sanitisers and minimising physical contact with people. The routine issue of visitors and temporary passes has been suspended with immediate effect and all gyms, recreation centres and creches in government buildings have been asked to be closed.

India on Tuesday also banned the entry of passengers from Afghanistan, the Philippines and

Malaysia till March 31, leading to chaos as several Indian students on their way back home were stranded in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the level of preparedness to contain the Covid-19 threat with states bordering Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. About 250 Indians in Iran have reported to be positive to Covid-19 during a preembarkment test conducted by Indian doctors in Qom, the epicentre of outbreak in that country. However, while external affairs ministry officials acknowledged Tuesday there were positive cases of Indians in Iran, they did not give the exact numbers.