Karnataka Minister, two JD-S MLAs test positive for Coronavirus

Bengaluru: Karnataka Minister of Cooperation S.T. Somashekar and two Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) legislators -- G.T. Devegowda and Naganagouda Kandkur tested positive for coronavirus and are under treatment, an official said on Thursday.

"Though Somashekar tested positive for COVID-19, he is asymptomatic and quarantined at home in the city. His office has also been sealed after his personal assistant too tested positive for the virus," the department official told IANS here.

Somashekar, who defected from the opposition Congress and joined the ruling BJP in November, got re-elected from the Yeshwantpur Assembly in the city's northern suburb during the December 5 bypolls.

Devegowda, a legislator from Chamundeshwari Assembly in Mysuru district, took a Covid test and the result came out to be positive.

"As Devegowda is asymptomatic, he has been home quarantined in Mysuru," a JD-S official said.

Mysuru is about 150km southwest of Bengaluru in the southern state.

Kandkur, a lawmaker from Gurmatkal assembly in the state's northern region, has been admitted to the state-run hospital in Yadgir along with his brother Mallikarjun Reddy as both tested positive for COVID-19.

"Though both brothers are asymptomatic, they are under treatment at the district hospital in Yadgir," Kandkur's son Sharanagouda told IANS on phone.

Yadgir is about 500km north of Bengaluru in the state.

Meanwhile, the condition of Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and opposition Congress leader Siddaramaiah is stable at a private hospital in the city's eastern suburb.

"Chief Minister Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah are responding well to the treatment. Their vital parameters are within normal limits and they are feeling comfortable," an official of Manipal hospital said in a statement here.