A CORONAVIRUS row has broken out after a Labour council leader accused a Conservative colleague of sharing ‘irresponsible’ advice on social media.

Pendle’s Cllr Mohammed Iqbal has called for a public retraction of the comments by fellow Bradley ward councillor Mohammad Aslam.

He claims that the posts were widely-shared on WhatsApp and has written to Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson and Cllr Nadeem Ahmed, leader of the council Tory group, calling for action.

Cllr Aslam, who defected from Labour in 2015, has denied circulating the messages widely and said he only sent them to a close family friend to check if they were true.

Cllr Ahmed said his Labour counterpart was being ‘typically mischievous’.

Cllr Iqbal said: “Cllr Aslam is mass circulating a message to Pendle residents claiming the Covid-19 virus is false and asking people to take aspirin as a cure.

“It is completely irresponsible for an elected member to be giving medical advice when he’s not qualified and more worryingly claiming the Covid-19 is a false illness.

“I know of Pendle families who have either lost a loved one or have someone in hospital as a result of this virus. For Cllr Aslam to say take aspirin is a reckless message to be sharing and Pendle Conservatives need to distance themselves from such irresponsible behaviour. His explanation is a very poor excuse.”

Cllr Aslam said: “I received this message with regards to aspirin as a cure for coronavirus on WhatsApp and sent it to a friend of mine to seek clarity on whether it was true or not.

“It seems that the friend circulated it on the basis that it was self prevention advice to other people who are trying different methods to prevent catching the coronavirus disease.

“It seems this message has then gone viral and that political opponents have then used it to attack me in public.

“I urge residents of Pendle to continue to follow the government guidance and not any advice from social media.”

Cllr Ahmed said: “Cllr Aslam sent it to one close family friend to check if it was true. not to hundreds as Cllr Iqbal claims.

“Cllr Iqbal is being typically mischievous and should not be playing politics with such and important issue."

Mr Stephenson said: “Cllr Iqbal is wilfully misrepresenting what happened.”