Maharashtra’s Minister of State for Revenue and Rural Development, Abdul Sattar, has tested positive for Covid-19 — the fifth minister in the state to have contracted the disease so far. Sattar tweeted on Wednesday, ”There was a little doubt, so I took a Covid-19 test. Unfortunately, I have tested positive. There is no need to panic. I may have been infected while engaged in relief work at various places affected by the pandemic. With your blessings I will be cured soon and resume work.’’
Elected from Sillod assembly seat in Aurangabad district on a Shiv Sena ticket, Sattar tested positive a day after NCP Rajya Sabha member Faujia Khan, from the adjoining Parbhani district, tested positive. Both are currently under medical examination. Three ministers who had earlier tested positive — Jitendra Awhad, Ashok Chavan and Dhananjay Munde — are now cured. On July 20, Minister of Ports and Mumbai District Guardian Minister Aslam Shaikh had tested positive. Minister of Soil and Water Conservation Shankarrao Gadakh-Patil went into home quarantine on July 19, after his wife tested Covid-19 positive.
Shiv Sena legislator Vaibha Naik from Sindhudurg district, too, is under treatment after he tested positive.