Advani calls on Surjeet in hospital, Karat ‘appreciates’

“Advani spent five minutes in the ICU and another 15-20 minutes outside where Mataji (Surjeet’s wife), his son and grandson were present,” CPI(M) Central Committee member Joginder Sharma told The Indian Express.

Both Advani and his aide Sudheendra Kulkarni — who had accompanied the BJP leader to the hospital — later spoke to CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury. “I had called a comrade at the hospital who told me that Advani was there. This is how we got to talk,” Yechury said.

Asked about his hospital visit, Advani said: “It was during my Karnataka campaign that I read in papers that Comrade Surjeet had slipped into coma. I then told (my secretary) Deepak (Chopra) that my hospital visit must be planned at the earliest.” Advani used to meet Surjeet frequently for their “Tuesday meetings” during the V P Singh regime, and described his ties with the CPI(M) leader as a “normal relationship”.

Old-timers recalled that after Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Deendayal Upadhyay’s death, it was Communist leader Hiren Mukherjee who made the best speech at the condolence meeting showering “fulsome praise” on his ideological adversary.

Apart from Advani, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, and a couple of UPA ministers also visited the hospital on Tuesday. The ailing Communist leader, in the meantime, has been taken off the ventilator although his condition continues to be critical.