Bhopal, June 20 Senior BJP legislator from Jawad constituency, Omprakash Saklecha, tested positive for Covid-19, a day after he voted for the Rajya Sabha polls, triggering panic in the political circles.
Several MLAs who had joined him for dinner and other meetings preceding the polls made a beeline to the hospitals to check their corona status.
"The MLA and his wife tested positive for Covid-19 in the tests conducted through a private laboratory. We are examining their condition and will decide whether they need hospitalisation or can do with being quarantined at home," a health department official.
Sakhlecha has been in Bhopal since June 16. Incidentally, his residence in Jawad falls in a containment area.
Sakhlecha became the second legislator in the state to test positive for Covid-19 in the past week. Earlier, Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary had tested positive. He arrived to vote for the Rajya Sabha polls on Friday in a PPE kit.
Sakhlecha's family members said a medical team rushed to examine the legislator's wife on Friday after she complained of uneasiness. The MLA and his wife tested positive by night. The family was not sure as to how Sakhlecha contracted the infection.
"Hard to pin the source as he keeps meeting members of the public," said a family member.
After the legislator tested positive, BJP MLA from Mandsaur, Yashpal Singh Sisodiya, rushed to the Government Hospital in Bhopal with two other MLAs to be examined for the virus.
Sisodiya told reporters, "I came here along with two other MLAs from our division, Dilip Makwana (Ratlam Rural) and Devilal Dhakad (Garoth), after learning about an MLA from our division testing positive for Covid-19. We don't have any symptoms but came to test for Covid-19 as a precaution."
Dhakad said that he was with the infected MLA at a party dinner two days ago and thought it wise to get himself examined. He also got his personal assistant, guard and driver tested for the virus.
The MLAs have decided to isolate themselves in Bhopal for 14 days. They have also dropped their plans to meet Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan after learning about Saklecha's health.
Anti-corona measures were followed rigidly at the polling venue in the state Assembly on Friday. Vidhan Sabha Principal Secretary A.P. Singh said all the employees of the Assembly were in safety gear throughout the election process.
The Assembly campus was sanitised every 15-20 minutes during the election process. Sakhlecha doesn't seem to have come in contact with several employees. "As a precaution, the Vidhan Sabha staff is watching the CCTV footage for contact history," Singh said.
A Congress leader, Feroze Ahmed, had died of coronavirus in Katni on June 17. It was the second corona death in Katni.
Congress leader Bhuvaneswar Dixit of Vijayaraghavgarh died of coronavirus at the Jabalpur Medical College on June 16. Dixit was in the contract history of Feroz Ahmed.
( With inputs from IANS )