Covid-19 shadow on Haryana assembly session: After CM, transport minister Mool Chand Sharma tests positive

Chandigarh: A day after Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and two BJP MLAs tested positive for Covid-19, state transport minister Mool Chand Sharma was also diagnosed with coronavirus infection on Tuesday, the eve of the monsoon session of the assembly.

With Sharma the latest BJP leader to test positive, Covid-19 has cast its shadow on the assembly session that gets underway at 2pm on Wednesday.

Deputy speaker Ranbir Gangwa, who tested negative on Tuesday, will preside over the assembly proceedings in Gupta’s absence.

Sharma, the BJP MLA from Ballabgarh in Faridabad district, said he was asymptomatic. “Until Tuesday morning, I had no symptoms. I am not running fever, my throat is clear, there is no runny nose and there are no flu-like symptoms. As of now, I have isolated myself at home,” he said.

He appealed to all those who had come in contact with him over the past few days to get themselves tested. The minister had carried out a surprise check of a bus stand in his assembly constituency on Monday.

Ratia BJP legislator Lakshman Napa and his Indri counterpart Ram Kumar Kashyap tested positive on Monday, while Ambala City BJP MLA Aseem Goel tested positive on August 21.

KHATTAR HOSPITALISED IN GURGAON

Khattar’s test report came positive on Monday, six days after he attended a meeting with Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi in connection with the discussion on the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue with Punjab. Shekhawat was later found infected with the virus.

The chief minister was taken to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh for a detailed check-up, an official said.

After returning to his residence, Khattar left for Gurgaon on Monday evening where he was admitted to a private hospital, the official said, adding that his condition was stable.

Khattar, who is also the leader of the assembly, will not be available for the monsoon session, which sources indicated was likely to be curtailed.

The Speaker had mandated all MLAs and assembly staffers to undergo the Covid test ahead of the session. Incidentally, the 73-year-old Speaker, who is the Panchkula MLA, has also tested positive.

Earlier, six assembly staffers, including Gupta’s political secretary, tested positive.

COVID-NEGATIVE CERTIFICATE MUST TO ENTER ASSEMBLY

On state health minister Anil Vij’s suggestion last week, the Speaker had made it mandatory for anyone entering the assembly complex to show a Covid-19 negative certificate.

The seating arrangement in the 90-member House will also be changed to ensure social distancing.

BJP MPs from Hisar and Kurukshetra constituencies Brijendra Singh and Nayab Singh Saini, and party legislator from Thanesar Subhash Sudha had tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier.