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Kerala CM violated Covid protocols, allege Cong, BJP, seek action
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan was admitted to the medical college hospital in Kozhikode on April 8 and discharged six days later on Wednesday, April 14.
A day after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was discharged from hospital after testing negative for Covid-19, Opposition parties, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), sought action against him for allegedly flouting Covid-19 protocols. They allege Vijayan, who tested positive for coronavirus on April 8, concealed his health condition to participate in a road show two days before the assembly polls and also voted on April 6, the polling day. They have also raised questions if the CM was discharged early in violation of the quarantine protocols for patients.
“Hospital records show he was infected much early. On the polling day, his daughter Veena Vjayan, who was staying with him, wore a PPE suit to cast her vote. He must have gone on quarantine immediately. But on polling day, he came in a large group to the polling booth in Pinarayi village,” said Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan in Delhi on Thursday. Asking the police to register a case against the CM, he added, “Two days before the polling, the CM held a mega road show in his constituency in Dharmadam in north Kerala.”
The CM was admitted to the medical college hospital in Kozhikode on April 8 and discharged six days later on Wednesday, April 14. Hospital authorities said he might have contracted the infection days before he got admitted. They also said he had severe infection at the time of hospitalisation but was asymptomatic. According to the Covid-19 protocol, patients must stay in quarantine for a week even after testing negative; a minimum two weeks of quarantine is prescribed for patients after testing positive. When asked if the rules were followed in CM’s case, medical college hospital authorities said he will be quarantined in his house for a week.
“He gives big lessons to all on quarantine and post-quarantine norms. But it seems he is beyond these restrictions. He flouted all norms brazenly. During his admission and discharge some family members accompanied him. Usually such patients are moved in ambulances and relatives are not allowed to travel with them,” said Muraleedharan.
The Youth Congress said it will petition Governor Arif Mohamad Khan against the CM. “If I had violated Covid norms like this and stood in the queue to vote, my house would have been destroyed the same day,” young Congress leader Veena Nair, a candidate from Vattiyoorkavu, said on social media.
State governments impose fines and jail term under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 for violations related to Covid-19 norms. Kerala government has announced a fine of ₹500 for those not wearing masks and ₹2000 for those violating quarantine rules.
State health minister KK Shailaja said the whole controversy was unwarranted and uncalled for. She said the CM was discharged after testing negative and he was in quarantine in his house for a week in line with the norms.
“How can you say he was infected two days before the election? His daughter was infected on the polling day (April 6) and isolated herself in her house. There is no room for any controversy,” she said. But Opposition parties said Shailaja was forced to defend the CM.
Vijayan, the CPI(M) candidate from Dharmadam in Kannur, had travelled throughout the state during the campaign for the polls.
As Covid-19 cases rise alarmingly in the state, the CM has convened a virtual meeting later on Thursday to assess the situation. The state logged 8,778 new Covid-19 cases and 22 related fatalities on Wednesday, taking the caseload to 11.89 lakh and the death toll to 4,836, according to state government data.
As many as 2,642 people were cured of the infection in the same period, taking the total number of recoveries to 11,25,775. Among the districts, Ernakulam reported the highest number of 1,226 cases, followed by Kozhikode with 1,098 and Malappuram with 888.
