By IANS,
Kolkata : Veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu injured his left leg after a fall in his bathroom in the wee hours Wednesday and could not vote in the Lok Sabha election, his personal aide said.
The 95-year-old leader was administered medicines at home by doctors, who termed the injury as minor, the aide said.
“Basu is now under medical supervision at home. But doctors said there’s no cause for worry. He can’t vote this time because of his ailing health. He is now resting,” Basu’s personal assistant Joykrishna Ghosh told IANS.
West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi called on Basu at his Salt Lake residence in the evening to enquire about his health.
“I saw him. He was in good spirits and discussed international and national politics,” Gandhi told reporters after coming out of Indira Bhavan – Basu’s residence.
Asked about Basu’s health, the governor said: “He is frail. But he still has the same humour and wit in his conversation that he had earlier.”
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee also met Basu at his residence this evening.
This is the first time in 63 years that Basu has not exercised his franchise.
In 1946, he contested his maiden election to the Bengal Provincial Assembly from the Railways Reserved constituency.
The veteran communist leader has a blood clot in the brain from a fall at his Salt Lake residence September last year. The doctors had advised surgery but Basu did not opt for it.
Born July 8 1914, in Kolkata to a wealthy family, Basu was the state’s chief minister from 1977 to 2000, when he quit voluntarily on health grounds.