Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj, who was quarantined at an ashram in Giridih on the orders of the district administration, was allowed to leave for Delhi on Sunday after his Covid test reports were negative.

Giridih deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha said Maharaj was granted exemption after he wrote a letter to the chief secretary on Saturday after he was quarantined. “He mentioned that he had to attend an urgent meeting of the parliamentary standing committee where an important bill was to be discussed,” Sinha said.

Maharaj left the Shanti Bhawan Ashram in Makatpur area of Giridih at 2pm for Dhanbad where he boarded a New-Delhi bound Rajdhani Express.

The BJP MP, who was livid after he was told not leave the town on Saturday as per Covid norms, looked and sounded happy that he was leaving. “Aaj ja rahe hai. Acchi baat hai (I am leaving today, which is good),” he told the media peering out from his car window.

Sakshi Maharaj, or Swami Sachchidanand Hari Sakshi Ji Maharaj, the BJP’s MP from Unnao, came to the ashram in Giridih from Delhi via Dhanbad by the Rajdhani Express on Saturday morning. He spent about two hours there with his ailing mother and was returning when he was stopped.

BJP leaders in the state condemned the “high-handedness” of the JMM-led state government. MP of Dhanbad P.N. Singh said the Giridih district administration was politically motivated. Several leaders also met the deputy commissioner to demand that Maharaj be allowed to leave for Delhi.