Kolkata, Aug 12 : Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who was hospitalised in a critical condition last week, suffered a heart attack on Sunday morning, a hospital official said.

"Chatterjee suffered a heart attack at the hospital this morning. His condition is now stable but critical. He is undergoing dialysis," said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Bellevue Clinic.

The veteran Left leader has been put on ventilator support at the city nursing home since last Tuesday following a kidney-related ailment.

The 89-year-old was earlier admitted to the nursing home on June 25 after suffering a haemorrhagic stroke.

He underwent treatment for 40 days and was discharged just for three days after his health showed signs of improvement. However, he was re-admitted after his condition deteriorated last Tuesday, the officer said.

Chatterjee, regarded as an outstanding parliamentarian, served as the Lok Sabha Speaker from 2004 to 2009.

The 10-time Lok Sabha member was expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist on July 23, 2008, "for seriously compromising the position of the party" as he refused to resign as the Speaker after the CPI-M withdrew support to the first United Progressive Alliance government over the India-US civil nuclear deal.



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Mumbai, Mar 14 (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday called the BJP rule in Maharashtra worse than that of Aurangzeb and claimed that farmers were dying because of the saffron party.

He claimed that farmers, unemployed people and women are committing suicides in the state.

“It’s been 400 years since Aurangzeb was buried. Forget him. Are farmers in Maharashtra committing suicide due to Aurangzeb? They are doing it because of you," Raut said.

If the Mughal ruler committed atrocities, then what is the government doing, he asked. BJP leads the ruling Mahayuti coalition, also comprising the Shiv Sena and NCP, in the state.

“Farmers are committing suicide. BJP's tenure is worse than that of Aurangzeb,” Raut said.

He was responding to a question on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s remarks that “everyone” feels Mughal ruler Aurangzeb’s tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar should be removed. But it has to be done under legal purview as the previous Congress regime put the site under the Archaeological Survey of India's protection, Fadnavis had said.

BJP's Satara MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendant of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, had sought the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district.

Aurangzeb is remembered in Maharashtra for his battles with the Marathas, who resisted his expansionist ambitions. Shivaji Maharaj's son, Sambhaji, was captured, tortured, and executed on his orders.