PANAJI
Goa Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar tested positive for coronavirus, a legislature department source confirmed on Thursday adding that he has been admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) at Bambolim for treatment.
Patnekar has been admitted as he suffers from co-morbidities and had recently undergone specialised treatment for a heart condition.
He had tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday and according to the team of doctors attending to him, his condition is stable, the legislature source said.
Two other top BJP leaders -- State party president Sadanand Tanavade and Organising Secretary Satish Dhond -- had also tested positive for the virus over the last week.
Tanavade and Dhond are also admitted to the GMCH for treatment.
With Goa sliding into poll mode with general elections to the 40-member Goa legislative assembly due early next year, the ruling BJP has been in the process of organising mass contact programmes and the Tanavade-Dhond duo had been in the thick of action.
Dhond, is State Organising Secretary of the party, and is considered the most influential leader wielding influence and significant say in decision making both at the party organisational level as well as in matters related to party-government co-ordination.
