Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina tests positive for Covid-19

Several top BJP leaders, including MoS in PMO, Jitendera Singh and party’s national general secretary Ram Madhav, have gone into self-quarantine after J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.

Raina had been camping in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district for the past five days in the wake of the killing of saffron party’s young leader Waseem Bari along with his father and brother on July 8. On Sunday, Raina accompanied Madhav, Jitendera Singh and national vice president and J&K affairs in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna to Bari’s residence in Bandipora.

On Tuesday Raina took to Twitter to announce his testing positive for Covid-19. “Hello friends, I was in Kashmir/Bandipora for five days after the killing of BJP leader Waseem Bari, Omar Sultan and his father by the militants. Today I had mild fever. When tested, the report came as Covid-19 positive. No other symptoms,” he tweeted.

The tweet triggered panic in the entire BJP unit of Kashmir with people voluntarily going for Covid-19 testing. “I will also go for Covid-19 test as I was with him all these days in Bandipora and also in Srinagar,” party’s J&K spokesman Altaf Thakur said. “For a time being, I have gone into self-quarantine.”

Sources in the BJP said that hundreds of party workers, middle-rung leaders, district presidents and zonal heads had met Raina over the past five days in Srinagar and Bandipora. “There is total chaos all around in BJP’s Kashmir unit,” they said.

Khanna confirmed that as a precaution he along with other leaders present at a condolence meeting have gone into a self-quarantine.

Meanwhile, the party's Kashmir unit has appealed to all the workers who came in contact with the BJP chief, to go for Covid-19 testing. A statement issued by the party’s media in-charge Manzoor Bhat said that all the workers, who met BJP chief at Bandipora and Srinagar must come forward and conduct Covid-19 tests.