Kolkata: Veteran Marxist leader and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, 96, fell unconscious on Sunday and was admitted to a private hospital here following gastro-intestinal complications. The attending doctors said his condition was now stable.
"He is suffering from gastro-intestinal distension. He also had a transient loss of consciousness in the morning. His blood pressure was also fluctuating earlier, but now it is normal. He is now stable," AMRI hospital medical superintendent Debasish Sharma said.
Basu was driven in an ambulance to the hospital near his Salt Lake residence Indira Bhavan a little before noon after he spent a restless night and had breathing problems.
He was admitted to the intensive cardiac care unit and a seven-member medical board comprising specialists from several departments was monitoring his condition.
In the afternoon, Basu complained of stomach ache, but was now comfortable, said a hospital official.
A series of tests, including ECG, ultrasound, x-ray and blood examination, was conducted on the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader who was given a liquid diet in the afternoon.
The medical board will again examine the nonagenarian leader Monday morning. Basu, who was chief minister for a record period of 23 years, has a clot in the brain from a fall at his home September last year. The doctors had advised surgery but Basu did not opt for it.
Basu injured his left leg after another fall at his home May 13. This prevented him from casting his vote in the Lok Sabha polls two months back. It was the first time in 63 years that he did not vote.
A galaxy of political leaders, including union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Minority Affairs and Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and state Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty, were among those who visited the hospital.
State CPI-M secretary and ruling Left Front chairman Biman Bose and several other ministers went to the hospital, outside which a large number of party workers had gathered.
"He spoke to me. His condition has improved," Chakraborty told reporters after coming out of Basu's room.
"He is now stable. He is better," said Mukherjee.
Born 1914 in Kolkata in a wealthy family, Basu became chief minister in 1977. He stepped down voluntarily on health grounds in November 2000.
The last of the nine founding politburo members of the CPI-M, Basu almost became India's prime minister in 1996 as the head of the United Front government. But the CPI-M vetoed the proposal, forcing him to dub the party's decision as a "historical blunder".
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