Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was admitted to a hospital in Kolkata at around 8.35 pm on Friday after he reportedly complained of breathlessness. He has been admitted to the hospital’s ICCU.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached the hospital, as well as several senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), including the party’s state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra. Bhattacharjee’s wife Mira and daughter Suchetana are also with him at the hospital.
A medical team is being formed. His blood pressure is said to be low and his condition was stated to be critical. Bhattacharjee has been suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) for several years.
State Governor Jagdeep Dhankar had paid him a visit last week at his home on Palm Avenue. Bhattacharjee, chief minister of the Left Front government in Bengal till 2011, has been ailing for the past few years. He hasn’t stepped out of his Palm Avenue home for months, and could not step out of his vehicle at the party’s last meeting on the Brigade Parade Grounds due to his health conditions.
