Former prime minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee is in a critical condition and is on life support, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said on Wednesday. He has been undergoing treatment at the facility for the last nine weeks.
“Unfortunately his condition has worsened over the last 24 hours,” the hospital said in a statement. “His condition is critical and he is on life support system.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani, and several other leaders visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences on Wednesday evening and night to enquire about Vajpayee’s health. Union minister Rajnath Singh and BJP President Amit Shah had visited the veteran leader on August 11.
The former prime minister was admitted to the facility in June with a urinary tract infection, a lower respiratory tract infection and kidney-related ailments but the hospital had said days later that he was recovering.
The BJP veteran is a diabetic and has one functional kidney. He had suffered a stroke in 2009, which reportedly weakened his cognitive abilities, following which he developed dementia.
Vajpayee was the prime minister between 1998 and 2004 when the National Democratic Alliance government was in power. The government conferred the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, on him in 2015.
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