NIZAMABAD: Yet another legislator of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has ended up getting infected with coronavirus. TRS MLA from Nizamabad Urban Bigala Ganesh Gupta is the latest to test positive for COVID-19. The legislator underwent the requisite medical examination after he exhibited coronavirus symptoms over the last two days. As the results showed, he tested positive for the dreaded virus.

Ganesh Gupta turns out to be the third legislator in Telangana to contract the deadly disease. Before him, Jangaon MLA Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy and Nizamabad Rural MLA Bajireddy Govardhan have been officially declared as COVID-19 patients having been infected with the virus. Incidentally, all the three legislators are from the ruling TRS.

Ganesh Gupta, the latest to test positive, is suspected to have been transmitted with the virus from Bajireddy Goverdhan with whom he interacted in the last few days. Also, there is a speculation within the party that Bajireddy Govardhan came in contact with Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy. The two are said to have interacted with each other during a recent review meeting held in Hyderabad.

Besides legislators, a few leaders of various political parties have also been infected with the killer virus in the state. Chintala Ramachandra Reddy, a veteran BJP leader, was among the first of the political leaders to have tested positive for COVID-19.

There is a sudden spike in the number of daily fresh cases in Telangana since the time the state government has started implementing the relaxations in lockdown restrictions based on the Centre’s guidelines. The total number of cases in the state has gone past 4,000, the last 2,000 of those cases being reported in less than 10 days, ringing the alarm bells in both the official circles and among the general public.