Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Kerala’s Vadakara, K Muraleedharan, has tested negative for the coronavirus. He posted the news on his Facebook page.
"Covid test result is negative. Thalassery government hospital superintendent Shri Piyush Namboodiripad has officially informed me. Thanks to those who stood against false news campaigns," Muraleedharan wrote.
A day earlier, the MP accused the state government and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) of trying to silence him by putting him in quarantine.
Muraleedharan was asked to go into quarantine by Kozhikode District Collector K Sambasiva Rao after he reportedly attended a marriage function of a doctor who later tested positive. However the Congress politician said that he had made it clear that he did not attend the wedding of the person who turned positive for the virus. The wedding was reportedly held at the groom's place in Kannur.
"The bride groom had turned positive after coming in contact with a person who attended his wedding. However, I went for the function on the previous day," Muraleedharan wrote.
He alleged that it is a personal attack against him for speaking against the government in the gold smuggling case and the Palathayi case.
"It is in my constituency that a Class IV student of Palathayi was sexually harassed. Now I am personally attacked by both the CPI(M) and the BJP (Bharateeya Janata Party), for speaking out," he wrote. The accused in the case is a BJP leader called Padmarajan K, who recently got bail from a court in Thalassery, three months after his arrest. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said at the time that the government should examine how the accused got bail.
However, despite feeling wronged, Muraleedharan said that he would go into quarantine, stating that he is a responsible citizen. "It is not because I fear anyone. It is as a responsible citizen and people's representative who should follow protocol during COVID times."