Bhubaneswar: The number of ruling party leaders afflicted with COVID-19 infection spiked Wednesday, with Commerce and Transport Minister Padmanabha Behera and Boudh MLA Pradip Kumar Amat both testing positive for the deadly virus.
Also read: Pipili MLA Pradeep Maharathy tests positive for COVID-19
Behera is the eighth Minister to have tested positive for the virus. Earlier, seven other Ministers Samir Ranjan Dash, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Tukuni Sahu, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Susanta Singh, Arun Kumar Sahu and Padmini Dian tested positive.
Moreover, Nabarangpur MP Ramesh Majhi and Bhadrak MP Manjulata Mandal have also tested positive in the near past. Likewise, Amat is among the 23 other party MLAs who have tested positive, so far.
Others are Dhenkanal MLA Sudhir Kumar Samal, Pipili MLA Pradeep Maharathy, Baliguda MLA Chakramani Kanhar, Kendrapara MLA Sashi Bhusan Behera, Patnagarh MLA Saroj Meher, Nabarangpur MLA Sadasiva Pradhani, Laxmipur MLA Prabhu Jani, Anandpur MLA Bhagirathi Sethy, Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Basudevpur MLA Bishnubrata Routray, Bhubaneswar North MLA Susant Rout, Bhubaneswar Central MLA Ananta Narayan Jena, Berhampur MLA Bikram Panda, Chandbali MLA Byomakesh Ray, former Badamba MLA Debi Prasad Mishra, Pottangi MLA Pritam Padhi, Bhadrak MLA Sanjib Mallick, Bari MLA Sunanda Das, Polsara MLA Srikant Sahu, Remuna MLA Sudhanshu Shekhar Parida, Jagatsinghpur MLA Prasanta Muduli and Salepur MLA Prasant Behera, who also have tested positive for the virus.
PNN