NEW DELHI: Former Indian Minister Jaswant Singh, who was expelled from the current ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in March this year, was in a ‘very critical’ condition on Friday after he suffered severe head injuries in a fall at his residence here late on Thursday night, an official statement said.
The statement from the Ministry of Defence said Singh, 76, was on life support systems at the Army (Research & Referral) Hospital here after undergoing a surgery.
Singh, who held the portfolios of Defence, Finance and External Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, was admitted to the hospital in a ‘highly critical condition’ around 1 am on Friday with injury to his head.
Members of Singh’s family had brought him to the hospital after finding him lying on the floor of the house in an unconscious state, it said.
‘Examination at the hospital showed him to be in coma, with signs of raised intracranial tension and a haematoma scalp. Urgent CT scan of the head showed an acute subdural haematoma with mass effect, a midline shift and contusion of the brain substance. A lifesaving decompressive hemicraniectomy was done,’ the statement said.
‘At present the condition is very critical. He is on life support systems and under constant monitoring by a team of neurosurgeons and critical care providers,’ it added.
Sources close to Singh’s family said he had suffered the injuries after he slipped and fell at his residence around 11.30 pm on Thursday.
Singh had served as a Cabinet Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996 and then between 1998 and 2000 and handled at various times the portfolios of External Affairs, Defence and Finance, among other assignments. He was also Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission for some time.
Considered close to Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, Singh was one of the founding members of the BJP.
He was expelled for six years by the party on March 29 this year following his decision to contest the Parliamentary elections as an independent candidate after the party declined to field him as its nominee from Barmer in Rajasthan.
Singh had said that he wanted to represent Barmer, his native place, in the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament, for sentimental reasons and had conveyed his desire to the party leadership well in advance. He had never contested from Barmer before that, having been elected to the Lok Sabha from Chittorgarh in Rajasthan in 1991 and 1996, and from Darjeeling in West Bengal in 2009. He has also served five terms as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament.
Singh, a former Army man, ended up losing the Lok Sabha election to the BJP candidate Sonaram Chaudhary, also a former Army officer and a former Congress MLA.
The BJP had earlier expelled Singh in 2009 for some of the views expressed in his book on Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, but he returned to the party later on being persuaded to do so by Advani and then BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
After his expulsion in March this year, Singh had said that he regretted his decision to return to the party.
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