Chhattisgarh Congress chief Mohan Markam is at the centre of a controversy after a video surfaced recently, showing huge presence of people at a wedding ceremony. The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the wedding was that of Markam's nephew where all Covid-19 protocols were violated.
BJP's state vice president Lata Usendi even claimed that Markam was also present at the wedding. The screenshots from the video, posted on Twitter by news agency ANI, show a large number of people roaming around freely at the ceremony.
The Congress MLA, however, rubbished all the allegations. "Lata Usendi has alleged that I got my nephew married off like that. She can look at my lineage. Everyone is connected to everyone in villages, it's not right to call everyone my nephew. If Covid norms are violated, the administration can take action," ANI quoted Markam as saying.
Chhattisgarh is among the states which account for 82.89 per cent of India's total active cases, according to Union health ministry. The state's Covid-19 count rose to 8,51,476 on Sunday with the addition of 9,120 cases, while the death toll went up by 189 to 10,570, according to an official quoted by news agency PTI.
The number of active cases in the state stands at 1,26,547, the official said.
{{/usCountry}}The number of active cases in the state stands at 1,26,547, the official said.
{{/usCountry}}The worst-hit Raipur and Durg districts, which were recording high numbers of cases earlier, saw 392 and 294 cases on Sunday respectively.
Raigarh recorded 687 new cases, Balodabazar 635 and Janjgir-Champa 600, among other districts.
The state government has announced weekend lockdown while earlier allowing district collectors to extend local lockdowns till May 15.