Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Govind Patel on Sunday claimed that workers of his party were not affected by the coronavirus because they worked hard. Patel was the state’s science and technology minister in 2014.

“Those who work, do labour work, remain unaffected by the coronavirus,” the MLA from Rajkot (South) told reporters, according to The Indian Express. “Workers of the BJP have done work, have done labour work and none of them has been infected.” Several BJP leaders, including Patel himself, have contracted the coronavirus in the past year.

Patel said people were behaving irresponsibly, leading to the surge in cases. “They are not wearing face mask while moving on roads, they sit in crowds while dining in a restaurant or having refreshment at lari-galla or paan shops, they form mobs,” the MLA said.

After his comment drew flak, however, Patel clarified that he had only meant to say labourers did not contract the coronavirus. “I wanted to say that labourers don’t contract coronavirus but added ‘BJP’ also in the same sentence, which is a mistake. I take my words back,” he said, according to ANI.

The MLA was responding to a question on whether the recent civic elections in the state were responsible for the spike in cases.

On March 10, the Gujarat High Court had noted that the recent civic body elections and the careless attitude of the public had led to a surge in coronavirus cases in the state. “Just when things started looking a little better and the conditions in the major cities across the state of Gujarat started improving, the elections of the various civic bodies at different levels and the carefree attitude of the people has once again spoilt the show and has put us back into a situation of concern,” the court had said.

On Sunday, the state reported 1,580 new cases, taking its tally to 2,87,009. A surge in cases in several states has led to a second wave of the pandemic in India, with a fresh set of guidelines and restrictions being imposed in many parts of the country.