Patna: Thousands of residents in Patna are panicking after coming in contact with a local Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate who has tested positive for COVID-19. The candidate Arun Kumar Sinha had been constantly campaigning in Patna, the capital city of Bihar, despite having symptoms of the deadly virus for the past fortnight, a report said.
The revelation came to light after the BJP candidate was tested before he could be granted permission to attend the October 28 rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Patna. After testing positive for coronavirus, he was denied permission to attend the rally.
Reports said Sinha, also a local BJP lawmaker, had developed COVID-19 symptoms after he filed his nomination papers on October 14. But he concealed this fact and continued campaigning and meeting city residents.
On Thursday, Sinha tweeted about testing positive and that he had quarantined himself at home. He also promised not to go among the voters until he recovers, but requested the people to vote for him after seeing his “helplessness”.
“We are panicking. He had been moving in the area and seeking our support for long. Leaders should not put citizens’ lives in danger just to win elections,” said Ravi Kumar, a resident of Kumhrar locality in Patna.
Sinha is among a dozen top BJP leaders who are currently in the grip of COVID-19. On Wednesday, federal minister for Textiles and Women & Child Development Smriti Irani tested positive for COVID-19. She was one of the many top BJP leaders extensively campaigning for party candidates in Bihar.
“It is rare for me to search for words while making an announcement, hence here’s me keeping it simple—I have tested positive for COVID and would request those who came in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest,” Irani tweeted.
Top leaders test positive
Other top BJP leaders who have tested positive during the Bihar poll campaign include Sushil Kumar Modi, deputy chief minister, Devenedra Fadnavis, former Maharashtra chief minister and the party’s Bihar election in-charge, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, both national spokesperson, Mangal Pandey, Bihar health minister and party parliamentarian Ajay Nishad. All of them figure among the list of 30 leaders declared as party’s “star campaigners”.
Mukesh Sahni, president Vikashseel Insan party (VIP), a BJP ally, too tested positive. Prime Minister Modi himself shared the news with the masses at a rally in Darbhanga on Wednesday.
The BJP was one of the ruling parties which had strongly batted for the elections on time while most opposition parties in the state were in favour of deferring polls in view of the pandemic. They even petitioned the Election Commission to postpone elections till the situation gets normal but the BJP mocked this demand alleging the opposition was trying to run away from the poll process on the pretext of COVID-19. Eventually, the EC announced the date of polling and campaigning started.
According to a latest report of the Bihar health department, COVID-19 has claimed 1,076 lives in Bihar and also left 214,946 people infected in the past six months in the state.
