Patna, July 14: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday claimed that 85 people were tested positive for coronavirus in Bihar chief minister’s residence. The leader of opposition of Bihar assembly added that 75 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members contracted COVID-19 because of virtual rallies.

Yadav also claimed that staff working in deputy CM’s residence and secretariat were also infected with the virus. Yadav tweeted, “If CM and Deputy CM are not same, then what about common people of the state.” RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav Urges for Increased COVID-19 Tests in Bihar as CM Nitish Kumar, Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi Await Their Coronavirus Reports.

Recently, Yadav had also accused Kumar and the BJP of focusing only on the coming assembly elections in the state and not caring about the people. Notably, assembly elections are scheduled to take place in Bihar in November this year. He also lashed out at Kumar after orders were issued to deploy doctors, nurses and a ventilator at latter’s official residence. The order were issued as Kumar's relative tested positive for coronavirus.

Earlier this month, the Bihar CM’s swab samples were taken for coronavirus testing after a senior BJP member of the Bihar legislative council tested positive for COVID-19. Kumar, however, tested negative for the deadly virus. Similarly, state deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi had also tested negative for COVID-19.

The number of coronavirus cases in Bihar reached 17,959 on Tuesday. The COVID-19 death toll also mounted to 160 in the state. According to the union health ministry, there are currently over 5,400 active cases in the state, while more than 12,000 people have recovered from the deadly virus so far.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 14, 2020 01:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).