A Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh has on Tuesday announced a reward of Rs 10,000 to trace BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur who is representing the Bhopal parliamentary constituency. The Congress leader has claimed that Thakur is missing at a time when her constituency is recording a high number of COVID-19 cases. 

Madhya Pradesh Congress Secretary and spokesman Ravi Saxena, in a statement, said that the Corona patients in Bhopal are facing a dearth of medicines and other critical medical equipment. He said, "This is the misfortune of Bhopal citizens who are running from pillar to post for injections, ventilators, oxygen, medicines, and dying due to COVID-19." 

The Congress leader further said that BJP MP Thakur, who won the Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal with a huge margin, was also missing during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Saxena further announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for anyone who traces the BJP MP. His statement has come at a high time when the BJP-ruling Madhya Pradesh has been recording the exponential rise of the COVID-19 cases. 

Hours after the Congress leader made the reward announcement, the BJP has hit out at the Congress party and said that Saxena's announcement of reward as an insensitive act and cited the ill-health of the 51-year-old MP. Speaking to PTI, state BJP Secretary Rajneesh Agarwal said, "This is a known fact that Thakur was air-lifted to Mumbai for treatment when she fell seriously ill". 

Agarwal further said, "The statements of the Congress leader are shameful and show insensitivity of his party". He went on to say that Thakur's health issues were caused by torture under the Congress government when she faced false charges, referring to the Malegaon blast case of 2008 in which she is an accused. 

According to the state health department, Madhya Pradesh has on Tuesday reported 13,417 fresh COVID-19 cases which had taken the total tally to 5,25,407 cases. The state has also reported 98 fresh deaths taking the death toll to 5,319 and a total of 11,577 patients were discharged through which the current recoveries stand at 4,25,812. The state had tested 75.70 lakh samples so far as of Tuesday including 59,177 new tests.