"It is rare for me to search for words while making an announcement; hence here’s me keeping it simple — I’ve tested positive for Covid," Smriti Irani wrote. While sharing her diagnosis, Irani also urged those who have come in close contact to get themselves checked for Covid-19.
The 44-year-old politician turned Covid-19 positive days after appearing for a rigorous campaign trails for the saffron party ahead of Bihar assembly polls.
Apart from Irani several other Union Ministers have tested positive for Covid-19 including Home Minister Amit Shah, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and others. However, all of them have recovered.
In a stinging attack on the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in poll-bound Bihar, Union minister Smriti Irani had last week asserted that "riches acquired through the fodder scam" will find no takers among the self-respecting people of the state.
The firebrand BJP leader, who addressed her first couple of rallies in the state, also invoked the imagery of Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, and remarked that people knew "she comes carrying the lotus and not the lantern", an obvious allusion to the poll symbols of BJP and the RJD respectively.
Meanwhile, first phase of Bihar Assembly Polls ended today with over 50 per cent voter turnout. A total of 71 assembly segments of the state's 243 constituencies voted in the first phase in which nearly 2.15 crore voters were to decide the electoral fate of over 1,000 candidates.