A Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA today said workers of his party do not get infected with the coronavirus since they "work hard."
Rajkot (South) legislator Govind Patel's take on coronavirus came after reporters asked him if the flouting of guidelines by political leaders and workers during poll campaigning was resulting in a spike in cases.
"Those who work hard do not get coronavirus infection. BJP workers work hard, and therefore, not a single worker has been infected with the virus," Mr Patel claimed.
During campaigning for the local bodies polls last month, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani tested positive for COVID-19, while many other leaders of the ruling party have also been infected during the pandemic, including state unit chief CR Paatil and several MLAs.
On Saturday, Vadodara BJP MP Ranjanben Bhatt informed that she was admitted to a hospital for COVID-19 treatment.
Meanwhile, state Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel refuted talk that local polls as well as the Test and T20I cricket matches in Ahmedabad were prime factors behind the COVID-19 spike.
"Elections are held as per the requirement under the Constitution. Cricket matches were limited to only Ahmedabad. There was no cricket match or election in Maharashtra, but it accounts for the highest number of cases, nearly 50 percent of the country's daily cases," he said.
He said one could come to any conclusion on the recent surge but the reality remains that it is the people's collective responsibility to adhere to norms and control the outbreak.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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