Kolkata, July 1: The health condition of former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, under treatment in a private nursing home here following a cerebral haemorrhage, continues to be critical with no further signs of deterioration, a hospital official said.

"His condition is more or less the same. He is still kept in the critical care unit and all the standard medical procedures are being followed. Such critical patients generally take time to recover," Pradip Tondon, CEO of Bellevue clinic, told IANS over phone.

"He is slightly conscious at times but extremely drowsy. However, there has not been any further deterioration in his condition," he added.

Tondon, however, confirmed the veteran politician would not undergo any surgery.

The 89-year-old former Left leader was admitted to the nursing home on June 25 in a critical condition. A medical board comprising Chatterjee's family physicians and other specialists are supervising his treatment.

Chatterjee, regarded as an outstanding parliamentarian, served as 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 Speaker after the CPI-M withdrew its support to the first United Progressive Alliance government over the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal.

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Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday demanded that the Centre immediately rollback the hike in commercial LPG cylinder prices. The price of commercial LPG was hiked by the steepest ever Rs 993 per 19-kg cylinder on May 1, marking the third straight monthly increase due to rising global energy prices linked to the West Asia conflict.

In his social media X platform, the DMK chief alleged that as predicted before the polls, the BJP-led union government has raised LPG prices immediately after the elections concluded.

"When global crude oil prices fell, the benefits were not passed on to the people, " he said, accusing the Centre of "using the West Asia war crisis as an excuse to raise the prices without regard for public welfare".

Calling for protection of the livelihood of the people, Stalin demanded an immediate rollback of the LPG price hike.

He asked the Centre to consider the people's suffering and find solutions.