The deadly coronavirus, which has affected millions around the world, did not even spare the bigwigs with Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro, Britain’s Prince Charles and UK PM Boris Johnson topping its VIP list. India, too, isn’t far behind with Home Minister Amit Shah leading the Covid-19 positive pack of famous personalities. Though, most of them were lucky enough to have got back home after complete treatment, some like UP’s Kamla Rani Varun and Chetan Chauhan lost their lives.
As India’s coronavirus tally continued to race crossing 38 lakh, it took into its fold some more ministers. On Thursday morning, former Uttar Pradesh minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi tested positive and by noon, Odisha Handloom and Textile Minister Padmini Dian was reported positive.
Here’s a list of top Indian leaders who have tested positive:
Amit Shah: Union Home Minister Amit Shah had tested positive for coronavirus on August 2 and had been admitted to Medanta hospital, located in Haryana’s Gurugram near Delhi. However, after 12 days he was tested negative and was advised to stay at home for a few days.
Banwarilal Purohit: Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit also tested positive for coronavirus on the same day as Shah and was advised home isolation since his “infection was mild”.
Kamal Rani Varun: The only woman cabinet minister in the state, however, succumbed to Covid-19 on August 2 at the age of 62. The Technical Education minister, who tested positive on July 18, breathed her last at Lucknow’s Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPI).
Other Covid-19 Positive Ministers in UP: Noida MLA Pankaj Singh, son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, also contracted the infection.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Minority Welfare Mohsin Raza, Rural Development Minister Rajendra Pratap Singh; Ayush Minister Dharam Singh Saini; Youth Development Minister Upendra Tiwari; Atul Garg, Minister of State for Medical, Health and Family Welfare; and Chaudhary Udaybhan Singh, Minister of State for Khadi and Villages Industries, tested positive for the infection. UP Industries Minister (Cabinet) Satish Mahana, Health Minister (Cabinet) Jai Pratap Singh, Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh and Law Minister Brajesh Pathak too have tested positive for Covid-19.
Two UP Cabinet ministers — Kamla Rani Varun and Chetan Chauhan — have succumbed to Covid-19.
J Anbazhagan: The DMK MLA, one of the key strategists of the party in Chennai and a close confidant of M K Stalin, passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on June 10 after battling Covid-19 for the eight days.
Other leaders in southern India: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Karnataka Forest Minister Anand Singh, Karnataka Agriculture Minister B C Patil, Karnataka Minister for Tourism, Kannada and Culture C T Ravi and former Union minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram.
Leaders in MP, Delhi, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh Water Resources Minister Tulsi Silawat, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana Power Minister Ranjeet Singh, Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj, Odisha Labour Minister Susant Singh, Odisha Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo and Himachal Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur.
West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress MLA Tamonash Ghosh, 60, passed away on June 24 due to coronavirus.
Leaders in Punjab: Recently, it was reported that 23 of 117 MLAs in Punjab have tested positive for Covid-19. State rural development minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa was the first minister to test positive for coronavirus but he has recovered.
On Thursday (September 3), four more Punjab MLAs tested positive — Randeep Nabha, Angad Singh, Aman Arora and Parminder Dhindsa.
Top BJP leaders: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and party’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra had also tested positive for coronavirus.
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