Covid-19 grips BJP leaders in Gujarat

Gandhinagar, March 20 (IANS) Two more Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders - Dabhoi MLA Shailesh Mehta and Vadodara MP Ranjanaben Bhatt - tested Covid positive on Saturday.Bhatt tested positive 16 days after taking the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine on March 4.A few days ago Cabinet minister Ishwar Parmar and MLA Babu Patel also tested positive along with five deputy secretaries and five other secretariat staff taking the total tally of the legislators and bureaucrats infected with coronavirus to 13.The Covid-19 spread started among the leaders including former BJP councillors, MLAs and MPs after Shivaji ki ride in Vadodara on Shivratri.Shakuntala Shinde, the former BJP councillor of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation breathed her last on Saturday. She had been undergoing treatment at Gotri Hospital for the past few days.Taking an important decision regarding the increasing Covid-19 cases in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) has decided to stop 16 buses running between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. All these buses were ferrying passengers between Ahmedabad and the state capital from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
--IANS amc/rt