Nikhil Kumaraswamy tests Covid positive on first wedding anniversary

Bengaluru: After Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy on Saturday, April 17 said that he also have tested positive for COVID-19 on his first.

Kumaraswamy’s wife and Ramanagara MLA Anita Kumaraswamy is under home quarantine on the advice of the doctors.

His son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is a Kannada actor and JD (S) youth wing president, tweeted that he, too, tested positive and is under medication.

Meanwhile, a statement by Kumaraswamy’s media coordinator claimed that the former Chief Minister did not get a bed at the city’s Manipal Hospital as he desired.

Also, Health Minister K Sudhakar’s intervention to get him bed at the hospital did not bear fruit, the statement said, adding that however, Kumaraswamy managed to find a bed at another private hospital.

Stating that Kumaraswamy had experienced fatigue on Friday while campaigning in Basavakalyan, the media coordinator’s statement attributing to JD(S) MLC H M Ramesh Gowda said the former Chief Minister returned to Bengaluru and retreated to a hotel instead of going home.

”On contacting doctors this morning and undergoing a test, he was confirmed COVID-19 positive. Though he wanted to rest at his farmhouse and undergo treatment there, doctors did not agree. They asked him not to risk it and that he should immediately get admitted to hospital,” it said.

The statement said that Kumaraswamy would appear before a court in connection with a case via video conference today, and after that, he would get admitted at another hospital where he has got the bed.

A source at the Manipal Hospital, not wanting to comment on claims made by Kumaraswamy’s media coordinator, said there was no bed available at the hospital on the city’s Old Airport Road.

However, Kumaraswamy later in the evening tweeted thanking cardiologist Dr C N Manjunath and Minister Sudhakar for their immediate response in getting him a bed at Manipal Hospital, but he would get treated at another hospital.

”I have decided to get treatment for coronavirus at Apollo Hospital where I underwent my second heart surgery, he added.

Kumaraswamy’s father and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda was admitted to the Manipal Hospital on March 31 for COVID-19 treatment and was discharged on April 5.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is also undergoing treatment at the Manipal Hospital for COVID-19, after he was tested positive on Friday, for the second time in eight months.

Several political leaders like Yediyurappa, Kumaraswamy, Congress MLAs Eshwar Khandre, Laxmi Hebbalkar, BJP’s Maski candidate Pratapagouda Patil, among others, contracted the virus during the campaign for bypoll to one Lok Sabha and two Assembly segments in Karnataka.

Yediyurappa, and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief D K Shivakumar, among other leaders, wished Kumaraswamy a speedy recovery.