Four more K’taka legislators test positive for coronavirus
Bengaluru: Four more Karnataka legislators, including two from opposition Congress, one from ruling BJP and an Independent have tested positive for COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, their party sources said on Thursday.
“Our Sringeri MLA T.A. Raje Gowda and Chikmagaluru MLC Bhoje Gowda tested positive and are under treatment in designated hospitals in Chikamagalur,” a Congress official said here.
BJP’s MLA Rajkumar Patil Teklur from Sedam in the state’s northern Kalaburagi district also tested positive and is under treatment at a private hospital in Bengaluru.
“Teklur, his wife and their daughter contracted the infection from his personal assistant at the state legislators’ home in the city, whose swab results returned positive two days ago,” his secretary Swamy told IANS on phone.
Independent MLA Sharath Bachgowda from Hoskote Assembly segment in Bengaluru Rural also tested positive for the virus and is under treatment at a private hospital in the city, an official said.
Earlier this week, Congress legislator H.D. Ranganath from Kunigal Assembly segment tested positive and is under treatment at a private hospital in the city, said party’s state unit working president Eshwar Khandre.
BJP’s MLA Bharat Shetty from Mangaluru North segment and its MLC M.K. Pranesh also tested COVID-19 positive and have been under treatment since July 5-6.
Veteran state Congressman B. Janardhana Poojary also tested positive for the virus and is under treatment at a private hospital in Mangaluru.
“Poorjary, 83, is under treatment at a private hospital here after he tested positive for Covid on Sunday,” party official Ravi Gowda told IANS.
Poojary’s son J. Santhosh said his father’s condition was stable and no cause for worry as he was asymptomatic.
Karnataka’s Independent Lok Sabha member and multi-lingual South Indian actress Sumalatha Ambareesh tested positive and was under home quarantine.
Sumalatha, 56, is a parliamentary member from Mandya, about 100km from Bengaluru on way to Mysuru.
The celluloid heroine developed symptoms of headache and throat irritation on July 4. Hence, she decided to get tested, as she might have been exposed to the virus during the course of her duty and tour in her constituency.