Assam legislators Ajanta Neog of Congress and Ramendra Narayan Kalita of Asom Gana Parishad tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the tally of MLAs infected by the coronavirus to a dozen. Both Neog and Kalita were examined during the day as they were suffering from fever and were found to be coronavirus positive, said officials.
Both the MLAs have been admitted to Gauhati Medical College Hospital. Neog was a minister during the three terms of the Congress government from 2001- 2016 while Ramendra Narayan Kalita was also a minister in the Asom Gana Parishad party for two tenures in power.
Neog represents the Golaghat assembly constituency,while the Kalita is MLA from West Gauhati. So far, out of the twelve legislators who have been tested coronavirus positive, followed by7 are from Bharatiya Janata Party,2 each from Congress and AGP while 1 is from All India United Democratic Front.
Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP was tested positive on Saturday and has been admitted to the Jorhat Medical College Hospital. The Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs who tested positive include Mihir Kanti Shome from Udharbond, Deputy Speaker Aminul Haq Laskar from Sonai,Krishnendu Paul from Patharkandi, Narayan Deka of Borkhetry, Bolin Chetia from Sadiya, Nabanita Handique from Sonari and Atul Bora of Dispur.
Besides Neog, another former cabinet minister and Congress MLA from Samaguri Rakibul Hussain had also tested positive along with his wife and nephew. Kalita and the Dergaon MLA Bhabendra Nath Bharali are the AGP legislators who have been tested positive to date.
Nizamuddin Choudhury, AIUDF Algapur MLA and 8 members of his family had been found infected. Another well-known politician of the state to test positive was the All India Mahila Congress President and former Silchar Lok Sabha Member Sushmita Dev.
Besides politicians, several senior bureaucrats in the state have also been tested positive along with 3394 police personnel. Assam has recorded a total number of 92,619 coronavirus cases, with 252 of them succumbing to the virus.
A overall of 19,274 are active cases, 73,090 have recovered and discharged from hospitals and 3 have migrated out of the state.
