Gandhinagar, April 15 Following Congress MLA Imran Khedawala testing positive for coronavirus a few hours after their meeting on Tuesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja and two other Congress MLAs have self-isolated themselves as a precautionary measure.
Looking at the rising number of positive cases of coronavirus infection in the walled city of Ahmedabad and Danilimda and intending to curb the menace that has killed over 1 lakh people globally, Rupani had called the three Congress MLAs, who represent a majority portion of the hotspot areas, for a discussion on the proposed curfew in these areas.
On Tuesday afternoon, Jamalpur Khadia MLA Khedawala, Dariyapur MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh and Danilimda MLA Shailesh Parmar met Rupani, Patel and Jadeja and expressed their support to the curfew decision, suggesting relaxation for women to buy for essential commodities.
The three Congress MLAs also met Chief Secretary Anil Mukim and Director General of Police Shivanand Jha. Later in the day on Tuesday, it turned out that the swab samples of Khedawala, taken during the surveillance of Jamalpur Khadia area, turned out to be positive, sending a shivers down the spine to all of those who met him in the afternoon.
On Tuesday evening itself, as Khedawala was rushed to the SVP hospital,Sheikh and Parmar got themselves home quarantined.
According to the information from the CM Office, it is learnt that the Gujarat CM, Deputy CM and the Minister have cancelled all their Wednesday meetings and have opted to isolate themselves at their residences in Gandhinagar.
Leading medical officials of the state, Dr R.K. Patel and Dr Atul Patel inspected the CM on Wednesday morning and expressed satisfaction on his health saying that all his parameters were normal.
"The CM will be functioning from his residence and the administration will run as usual," said Ashwani Kumar from the Chief Minister's Office. The CM is overseeing the administration through technological aids like video conferencing, video calling and telephone. An official order has also been released that nobody will be allowed to meet the CM a week from Wednesday.
Later on Wednesday, Rupani rang up all the 3 Congress MLAs and inquired about their health. He inquired on Khedawala's health and asked him to call if he needs anything. He also inquired about the health of both the other Congress MLAs from Dariyapur and Danilimda and asked them to take care of their health while in their isolation.
Rupani expressed hope that all the three Congress MLAs will get well soon and once again resume their public works.
( With inputs from IANS )