Jitendra, Madhav quarantine themselves as Raina tests +ve

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 14

Top BJP leaders, including Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and the party’s national general secretary Ram Madhav, have gone into self-quarantine after J&K unit chief Ravinder Raina tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday afternoon.

Raina said in a tweet that he had tested positive after he recently returned from Bandipora, where he had gone following the murder of party leader Wasim Bari, his father, and his younger brother. Raina said he had a slight fever but showed no other symptoms.

On July 12, Raina accompanied Ram Madhav, Jitendra Singh, national vice-president Avinash Rai Khanna and others to Bandipora to express condolences to the family of a party leader, who was killed by militants.

While the BJP’s central leaders went to Delhi straightway, leaders from Jammu were tested after their return from the Valley.

Soon after the development, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said he has isolated himself.

“Have gone into self-quarantine with immediate effect from 4 pm today, after receiving the news about #Corona positive test of J&K BJP president Sh Ravinder Raina who had accompanied us from Srinagar to Bandipora on 12th July,” he said in a tweet.

Similarly Ram Madhav tweeted, “Am quarantining myself for a few days since my colleague and BJP J&K president Ravinder Raina tested ve for corona today and I was with him 48 hours ago in Srinagar. I tested -ve for corona 4 times during travel in last 2 weeks. Yet taking precautions to ensure safety of me and others.”

During his four-day stay in the Valley, Raina had interacted with a large number of BJP workers. Party workers who came in contact with Raina would undergo Covid-19 test, followed by mandatory quarantine.

Similarly, many Jammu-based leaders have also met Raina after his return from the Kashmir valley.