Many BJP leaders suffering from health issues suddenly!
Since a few months, the nation has started expressing doubts about Modi coming back to power in 2019 and now it seems that this poll will not be a cakewalk anymore for the BJP-led government similar to the 2014 elections, where the party observed a swift win. The BJP’s defeat began first in Karnataka and then in December in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh — states which were known as the BJP bastion. However, the bothersome results in the Hindi heartland show that the BJP could not escape anti-incumbency even in its bastions; it comes across that the party and its leaders’ days are not going good. All of a sudden, the BJP leaders are falling prey to sickness. Nonetheless, it is effortful to distinguish the reason – overburdened with work or over worried – that the BJP leaders are suffering from health issues!
RJD MP Sarfaraz Alam asserted, “It is true that many BJP leaders are suffering from physical illness but I believe that the saffron party itself is a serious disease for the country and its citizens. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we will make sure that the country gets relieved from this illness.”
The upcoming Lok Sabha elections are very important for the BJP to get a mandate with the Oppositions trying to form a common anti-BJP front in 2019. Ahead of the elections, the party has also planned to organise rallies in large numbers for this, but suspense has now been established as recently BJP president Amit Shah, 54, battling with swine flu grabbed the limelight after the opposition took a dig at Shah’s illness calling it as a result of panic. While Karnataka Congress leader Hariprasad said that Shah had caught fever – not any, but pig fever (swine flu) – because of the horse trading of MLAs and would suffer a worse fate if he continues these actions. Shah, who was admitted to AIIMS on Wednesday for swine flu treatment, is doing well and will be discharged in a day or two, the party said on Thursday. Doctors also said that since the last two days, Amit Shah was suffering from body aches, chest pain, and difficulty breathing. BJP did not leave the opportunity to slam the opposition by calling them insensitive for mocking Shah’s illness.
Haryana BJP National Secretary Sudha Yadav expressed, “I feel, Congress should not make fun of the physical ailments of the BJP leaders. BJP President Amit Shah is a hardworking person; he is recovering and will soon be back to work. The way senior BJP leaders are getting old, Congress must mind that they too have senior leaders who’re in their old age and are suffering from various ailments. While the party sidelined senior leader Sheila Dikshit for her old age, we can see her coming back actively now! Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi — these senior leaders, even after being old, continuing their work with similar passion and activeness. If a senior politician is actively doing their works for the society, age should not be a bar. Congress is making an unnecessary fuss about this issue.”
Sushma Swaraj, 66, is the Union Minister for External Affairs and the Lok Sabha MP from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. In 2014, she won the election in her constituency by a whopping margin, more than 4 lakh votes; however, she took a back seat from contesting general elections this year due to her health and announced that at a press conference in Indore in November. She underwent a kidney transplant in 2016 and she is on dialysis since then.
TMC Lok Sabha MP Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar stated, “It’s unfortunate that such senior public representatives are suffering from physical ailments; we wish their speedy recovery and want them to be an active voice in the 2019 Lok Sabha campaigning.”
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, 69, in October last year underwent an angiography procedure at the All India Institute of a Medical Sciences. According to a senior cardiologist at the hospital, Naidu was admitted to the hospital after his sugar and blood pressure level were high along with that he also complained of some cardiac issues.
Recently on January 17, BJP’s national general secretary, Ram Lal (66), has been admitted to the Kailash Hospital in Noida due to high fever. He is still under observation, officials at Kailash Hospital said.
Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, 61, has been running ill for some time now. Last month, at an event in Maharashtra, when Gadkari was about to stand for the National Anthem, he fainted due to low blood sugar level. The Union Minister had addressed the gathering before the incident.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, 66, is unlikely to present the federal budget on February 1, as in the last week, he has flown to the United States for cancer treatment. As per the reports, Jaitley has soft tissue cancer in his thigh and this type of a malignant tumour can easily spread to other parts of a patient’s body. Casting aside political acrimony, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday wished an ailing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley a speedy recovery and assured him that “we are with you and your family 100 per cent.” According to the sources, the Finance Minister can return by next week.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) office bearer Rajni Patil commented, “Physical illness is not in our control and everyone suffers from something or the other. Congress President Rahul Gandhi also tweeted addressing Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wishing him a speedy recovery and good health. Politicians have no age bar. In a lighter note, I feel that it’s Congress’s fever that’s making all these BJP leaders sick all of a sudden.”
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, 64, on Monday was admitted to the hospital after a problem in the respiratory tract following complaints of nasal congestion. He was transferred from the ICU to the private ward. The Union Law and Justice Minister was admitted to the Lung Medicine Department. However, it is said that the condition of Prasad is stable now and has been recently discharged from the hospital.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, 63, is running ill for the last 11 months. In February, he was diagnosed with advanced stage IV of pancreatic cancer. Parrikar has been in and out of hospitals in Mumbai, US, and Delhi since mid-February and had been recuperating at his residence in Panjim since October 14 following his return from AIIMS in Delhi where he had spent a month. His visit to the two bridges in December marked the first time he had moved out of his house since October, officials said. Along with Parrikar, Goa’s PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar underwent surgery at a Mumbai hospital on July 9, joining an unprecedented number of MLAs in the state who’ve been hit by major health issues. Another BJP Minister, Pandurang Madkaikar, is still being treated at the Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai after he suffered a brain stroke in early June.
Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali exclaimed, “Sickness is not in human’s control but these senior leaders have given their sweat and blood to build and take forward the Bharatiya Janata Party. The work has not been halted because of them and these leaders are working their limit best to keep the show go on. When political leaders become sick and continue work, that usually becomes a political topic of discussion, but the people of our country should decide whether this issue deserves any importance!”
BJP, in the coming Lok Sabha polls, had decided to remove the age-bar of retirement from active politics after 75. Nonetheless, looking at the current political scenario of the party, it is believed that Modi-government must reconsider its retirement policy in the politics!
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