AMN / Kolakata
Veteran communist leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s health condition has further deteriorated and he reported to be critical. Chatterjee was admitted to hospital in Kolkata earlier on Friday.
He is on ventilator support and is on dialysis. Chatterjee had earlier suffered a hemorrhagic stroke in June after which his health declined. He had also suffered a mild cerebral stroke back in 2014.
A former CPM leader and a 10-time Lok Sabha MP, Chatterjee was the Speaker of the Lok Sabha during the UPA-I rule from 2004 to 2009. He was expelled from Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) in 2008 for not resigning as the Speaker after the party withdrew support from the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
One of the longest-serving parliamentarians, Chatterjee, also an eminent jurist, was a member of the Lok Sabha from 1971 to 2009, except in the 1984 election when he was defeated by Mamata Banerjee.
Several leaders hailing from Left parties have reached the hospital to inquire about Chatterjee’s health.