Bengaluru: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya has tested negative for COVID-19. Surya and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa's political secretary S.R. Vishwanath had to undergo test as they met an infected doctor at the Victoria hospital.
Incidentally, Revenue Minister R. Ashoka also attended the meeting but did not undergo a test.
Ashoka had substituted for Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar when he isolated himself for eight days in home quarantine after his family members tested positive.
The Revenue Minister also celebrated his 64th birthday recently and said that a test was not necessary as per expert advice. The Dean of Victoria Hospital has exempted Surya, Vishwanath and Ashoka from quarantine.
Read: Kumaraswamy slams Karnataka government for poor handling of COVID-19
The state government has recently exempted Union and state ministers and officials from quarantine.
"The ministers of the Union government or the state government or officers on duty will be exempted from quarantine as has been done for health professionals," state Health Commissioner P.K. Pandey said in an order.
The order came on the day when Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, was allowed to exit the airport on arriving from New Delhi without going into seven-day institutional quarantine.
(With inputs from IANS)
