A day after a BJP MLA tested positive for COVID-19 within hours of voting in the Rajya Sabha election , the party’s Madhya Pradesh president V.D. Sharma on Saturday said this would have no bearing on the party’s preparation for the forthcoming byelections.
“There will be no impact on the preparations for the bypolls as we are already taking all precautions,” Mr. Sharma, Khajuraho MP, told The Hindu . Byelections to 24 Assembly seats, 22 vacated by Congress MLAs who switched over to the BJP along with former Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, are due by September.
The BJP was not holding any public meetings, said Mr. Sharma. “We are mostly conducting virtual meetings and holding videoconferences. Otherwise, we are meeting in small groups while maintaining social distancing.”
Hours after casting his vote along with 205 MLAs at the Vidhan Sabha, BJP MLA Omprakash Saklecha (from Jawad in Neemuch district) and his wife tested positive, sending jitters among MLAs as he had attended the legislative party meeting a day ago.
Mr. Saklecha is the second legislator from the State to have contracted the illness after Congress MLA Kunal Choudhary who, donning personal protective equipment, voted in the election on Friday.
