The chief of Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) Vijayakant tested positive for coronavirus in Chennai on Wednesday. The leader is currently receiving treatment at the MIOT hospital in Manapakkam in Chennai. The actor-turned-politician has long been suffering from kidney and liver-related ailments.
The hospital in a statement said that the politician is completely stable and is expected to make a full recovery.
It is suspected that he may have contracted the infection during the celebrations held at DMDK party office in Koyambedu. On September 14, the party recently held celebrations for the 16th annual day of DMDK. The celebration was attended by DMDK leader Vijayakant, his wife and DMDK women’s wing leader Premalatha Vijayakant and DMDK leader Sudhish. Vijayakant hoisted the party flag at the party office and also issued a statement claiming that DMDK will win with a huge margin in 2021 elections.
The DMDK chief has usually avoided public meetings even before the coronavirus pandemic due to his health condition. This year, his fans even celebrated his birthday on August 25 praying for his return as ‘Captain’ Vijayakant. The leader is fondly called as Captain by his fans since he played the role of Captain Prabhakaran in a Tamil movie.
On the day Vijayakant tested positive, Tamil Nadu recorded 5,319 new cases of coronavirus taking the active number of cases to 46,249. The state has witnessed 5,57,999 patients testing positive for the virus till now. In Chennai district alone, 1,58,594 positive cases have been registered.
The DMDK party was initially started as a fan club of the actor. The actor-turned-politician formally launched DMDK in 2005 and contested the 2016 elections where Vijayakant won.