Sonia Gandhi  tests positive for COVID-19, shall  appear before ED on June 8: Randeep Surjewala

 In less than a day of being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Heraldmoney laundering case, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi,  has  “tested positive  for COVID-19” , Mr Randeep Surjewala, General Secretary and Spokesman of Congress, told newsmen on Thursday. Mr Surjewala also made it clear that Mrs Sonia Gandhi would appear before the Enforcement Directorate as scheduled on June 8. Mrs Sonia Gandhi has already isolated herself. Addressing reporters on the sidelines of the Karnataka Congress’s ‘Nava Sankalpa Shivir’ in Bengaluru, he said, “She is perfectly alright and recovering.” Sonia Gandhi has been meeting several  leaders and activists over the past one week, and some of them have tested positive for COVID-19.Sonia Gandhi last evening developed a very mild fever, consequently she was tested and she has also tested positive,” Surjewala said  maintaining that as of today the Congress President is determined to appear before the ED on June 8.“She hopes to recover by then; if there is any other and further information, we shall inform you,” he added. The ED has summoned Sonia Gandhi and her son Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on June 8 in connection with a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper-Associated Journals Limited (AJL) issue.Starting with Kota where it held a national brain storming camp to revive and rejuvenate Congress, the party is holding similar camps in different States.It may be pertinent to mention here that some of the top leaders of the party, including former Union Ministers – Kapil Sibal, Ashwani Kumar and  Sunil Jakhar (all from Punjab) –  and others have left the party. Hardik Patel

After quitting as working President of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress CommitteePatidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel has also joined BJP “as a small soldier in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to build a new India”. Only weeks  earlier, Hardik Patel was named the working President of the Gujarat unit of Congress

He thus becomes the second present or former State Congress chief to join BJP after Sunil Kumar Jakhar of Punjab.

In Punjab, Congress lost former Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, after he was asked to quit. He later quit Congress and floated a new party, Punjab Lok Congress, and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a breakaway group of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Sanyukat Shiromani Akali Dal led by former MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in contesting the last Assembly elections. The alliance failed to win even a single seat.

Besides Captain Amarinder SinghRana Gurmit Singh Sodhi and Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, both MLAs in the previous Vidhan Sabha, also had quit Congress to join BJP. They both lost the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections as candidates of BJP.  

During his induction,  Hardik Patel besides his supporters and BJP leaders, several religious priests and saints were also present. “I am about to start a new chapter with feelings of national interest, regional interest and social interest. I will work as a small soldier in the massive efforts in national service under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he tweeted in the morning before heading to the state BJP headquarters in Gandhinagar. 

He said that he had no demands and would work as a small worker or solider of the party under the leadership of PM Modi. While quitting Congress, Patel had slammed the party’s leadership, accusing it of scuttling the efforts to work and revive the party in Gujarat.