Veteran Bengal CPI (M) leader and former Siliguri mayor tests positive for Covid-19

Asok Bhattacharya had been unwell for quite some time but tested negative for Covid-19 on June 13. He is also a diabetic and has a heart problem.

Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Asok Bhattacharya (62), a legislator from Siliguri constituency in north Bengal and chairman of the board of administrators at Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), tested positive for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Wednesday.

The Siliguri civic corporation sounded an alert immediately after Bhattacharya tested positive. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT file PHOTO)

He is admitted to a private nursing home. He has fever, pneumonia, among other ailments.

Bhattacharya had been unwell for quite some time but tested negative for Covid-19 on June 13. He is also a diabetic and has a heart problem.

Bhattacharya was the minister of urban development in the erstwhile Left Front government and till recently served as the mayor of Siliguri. He served as a minister four times.

S Poonambalam, district magistrate of Darjeeling said, “Bhattacharya is stable. He had heart surgery last year.”

The Siliguri civic corporation sounded an alert immediately after Bhattacharya tested positive.

“The SMC head office will remain closed for three days from Thursday,” said a notice. Many Siliguri-based journalists who met Bhattacharya over the last one week will also be tested for Covid-19, said a health official.