Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina tested positive for Covid-19 today, triggering panic among the party leaders and workers, who were in close contact with him since the last five days.
Raina has been camping in north Kashmir’s Bandipora since past five days in the wake of the killing of BJP’s young leader Waseem Bari, his father and brother on July 8. On Sunday, Raina accompanied BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav, MoS in PMO Dr Jitendera Singh, BJP’s national vice president and J&K affairs incharge Avinash Rai Khanna to Bari’s Muslimabad residence in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district.
Raina took to Twitter and wrote: “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.”
नमस्कार मित्रो, आतंकवादीयों द्वार बानडीपुरा मे भाजपा नेताओ श्रीमान वसीम बारी, श्री उमर सुलतान एव उनके पिता जी की हत्या के बाद मैं 5 दिनों तक कश्मीर /बानडीपुरा में रहा, आज मुझे हल्का सा बुखार था, टेस्ट करवाया तो रिपोर्ट में COVID-19 + आया है, No other Symptoms .. जय माता दी
— Ravinder Raina (@RavinderBJPJK) July 14, 2020
Raina’s tweet triggered fear in the entire BJP unit of Kashmir with people voluntarily going for Covid-19 mapping. “I will also go for Covid test as I was with him for these days in Bandipora and also in Srinagar,” said BJP spokesman for J&K Altaf Thakur.
Sources in the BJP said that hundreds of party workers, middle-rung leaders, district presidents, zonal heads met Raina over the past five days in Srinagar and Bandipora district. “There is a total chaos all around in BJP’s Kashmir unit,” he said. A senior party leader and BJP top brass including Ram Madhav, Dr Jitendera Singh and Avinash Rai Khanna have also decided to go for Covid testing as they spent almost an hour with Raina in Bandipora.
Hours after Raina’s tweet, Jitendra Singh also announced that he has gone into self-quarantine with immediate effect. “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 tweeted.
-ARK
