Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has cancelled her upcoming tour to poll-bound states, including the visit to Thiruvananthapuram on April 3, as she has gone into self-isolation after her husband, Robert Vadra, tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Taking to Twitter, Priyanka Gandhi on Friday said that although she is tested negative for coronavirus, she was advised by doctors to self-isolate as a precautionary measure. “My report has come out negative but on the advice of doctors, I will be in isolation for the next few days. I apologise to all of for this inconvenience,” she said on the social media post. She said that as a result of her self-isolation, her election programmes scheduled this week for Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have to be cancelled.
In the video message posted on her official Twitter handle, Priyanka apologised for the cancellation of her programmes. She also wished luck to all the Congress candidates she was supposed to campaign for the upcoming polls.
Priyanka has been campaigning for the Congress and party candidates in the states of Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, although she has not campaigned in West Bengal.
Robert Vadra on Facebook announced that he contracted the virus after he came in contact with someone who was Covid-19 positive.
“Unfortunately, I came into contact with someone Covid +ve and have tested positive for Covid although I am asymptomatic so far. As per the Covid guidelines, Priyanka and I are self-isolating although she has tested negative,” he said. He added, “Fortunately the kids have not been with us these days and everyone else at home has tested negative too. Hopefully we will all be back to normal life soon."
Meanwhile, Priyanka’s announcement will come as a disappointment to Congress Nemom candidate K Muraleedharan.
She was supposed to visit Venjarammoodu, Kattakada, Poojappura and then do a road show with the Nemom UDF candidate Muralidheeran along with UDF’s Vattiyoorkavu, candidate Veena S Nair on March 30. However, the road show was cancelled as there was a lack of the time.
As the roadshow had to be cancelled, a miffed Muraleedharan, who is UDF’s star candidate in Kerala, is said to have told Priyanka that not visiting Nemom would send mixed signals. Nemom is the only seat in Thiruvananthapuram that the BJP managed to win in the 140-member Kerala Assembly in the 2016 Assembly polls.
The UDF party, for the upcoming election in Kerala, consciously picked Muraleedharan, who is Lok Sabha member and son of late minister K Karunakaran as its Nemom candidate. He will be taking on former state BJP president Kummanam Rajasekheran in the Nemom constituency. According to Muraleedharan, Priyanka not campaigning in his constituency would give the opposition parties something to talk about. To appease Muraleedharan, Priyanka had agreed to visit the capital city again on April 3 to participate in a roadshow at Nemom and Kazhakoottam as part of the poll campaign in Kerala.
