The health condition of Somnath Chatterjee, former speaker of Lok Sabha and one of the seniormost CPI(M) politicians of India, deteriorated further on Saturday, with the veteran leader suffering from breathing difficulty. Chatterjee's organs are also not responsive.
Chatterjee, 89, has been put on ventilator support and is on dialysis. A doctor at the hospital mentioned Chatterjee's condition was "extremely critical".
Chatterjee was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata after suffering a stroke in late June. Few days ago, he had been discharged from hospital by his family as his condition improved marginally. Chatterjee had been complaining of breathlessness when he was admitted in the hospital.
On Friday, Chatterjee's condition deteriorated and he was brought back to hospital.
Chatterjee, also an eminent jurist, was one of the longest-serving parliamentarians in India. He was a member of the Lok Sabha from 1971 to 2009, except in the 1984 election when he was defeated by Mamata Banerjee, present chief minister of West Bengal, from Jadavpur.
Chatterjee joined the CPI(M) in 1968 and remained its member till 2008 when he was expelled by the CPI(M) politburo for refusing to resign as speaker of the Lok Sabha after the Communist party withdrew support from UPA-1 government over the Undo-US nuclear deal. Chatterjee was praised for his approach of following the rule book rather than party diktat.
A number of Left leaders, including CPI(M) leaders, have reached the hospital where Chatterjee was admitted to enquire about his health.