Former ADMK Minister and senior party leader Gokula Indira has been tested positive for the COVID-19 viral infection on Monday, becoming one of the senior party leaders who were confirmed to have contracted to the pandemic. The development has come when the state has been witnessing peaking COVID-19 cases in its territory with the total tally of 6.56 lakh cases and over 10,200 deaths. 

Gokula Indira has served as the cabinet minister of Tamil Nadu when Jayalalithaa was the Chief Minister. She has been supporting Chief Minister Edappadi Palansiwami's faction and according to the reports, Gokula Indira has on Monday confirmed to have contracted to the COVID-19 viral infection and she has got admitted to King's Institute in Guindy, Chennai for further treatments. 

The development has shocked the party leaders including the high command as Gokula Indira had attended the party event on October 7 in Chennai during which party leader Panneerselvam had announced Edappadi Palaniswami as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the ADMK party in the upcoming polls. 

Gokula Indira was seen standing close to the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and senior leaders as it was apparently visible that everyone in the event had rubbed their shoulders as they surrounded the top two leaders by taking a break from the social distancing norms. As she has now tested positive, nearly five days after the event, it has shocked the senior leaders and the reports say that the leaders who had attended the event would be get tested. 

Besides Gokula Indira, Tamil Nadu secretary of the Marxist Communist party Balakrishnan had also tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday and he has been getting treated at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai as the pandemic has been irking the state government and its people with many celebrities and political leaders getting tested positive. 

So far, over dozens of sitting MLAs had confirmed to have contracted to the viral infection including four senior ministers and of which one legislator DMK's J Anbalagan had succumbed to the disease on June 10 while the rest of them are either getting treated or got discharged. About three MPs from Tamil Nadu had also tested positive for the pandemic of which Congress MP H Vasanthakumar had died in August. 

Tamil Nadu has reported 6,56,385 positive cases so far as of Sunday of which 44,095 are active, 6,02,038 have been discharged, and 10,252 had succumbed to the viral infection.