Narendra Modi down with swine flu

Narendra Modi down with swine flu

AHMEDABAD: Narendra Modi, chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, has contracted swine flu, his office said in a statement on Friday. Modi tested positive for the H1N1 virus days after his return from a business trip to Russia. “[Quarantine] facilities and medical treatment (have) been arranged at the official residence of the chief minister,” the statement said, adding that Modi was responding to the treatment. Swine flu has claimed more than 450 lives in India since the first death was reported on August 3. Modi, a key member of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, has been tipped as the party’s potential prime ministerial candidate, although his record is tainted by his involvement in the deadly anti-Muslim riots that swept Gujarat in 2002. The disclosure of Modi’s disease has sent a wave of panic among industrialists who accompanied him to the trip to Russia, APP reported. A minister complained that Modi should not have attended the meeting if a swine flu infection was suspected.