Sharad Pawar's health deteriorates, NCP chief admitted to Mumbai hospital

New Delhi: Due to ill health, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has been admitted to a Mumbai hospital, his party said on Monday (October 31, 2022).

The 81-year-old former Union minister has been taken to Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai and will remain admitted for the next three days, the NCP said in a statement.

"According to the request made by the state general secretary of the party Shivajirao Garje through an official letter, all office bearers and workers of the Nationalist Congress Party should not gather outside the hospital," the NCP said.

"After that (being discharged), he will participate in party camps that will be held in Shirdi on November 4-5," the NCP added.

राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पक्षाचे राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष आदरणीय शरद पवार साहेब यांची प्रकृती ठीक नसल्यामुळे पुढील तीन दिवस पवार साहेबांना मुंबईतील ब्रीज कॅन्डी रुग्णालयात उपचारासाठी दाखल करण्यात येणार आहे. #NCP pic.twitter.com/YpjqjcFw1E — NCP (@NCPspeaks) October 31, 2022

The party did not reveal the nature of Pawar's illness, but reports claimed that he has been experiencing weakness after his recent tour of some flood-hit regions of the Pune district.

Earlier in April 2021, Pawar was hospitalised after he was diagnosed with stones in the gallbladder.

In March 2021, the NCP chief had also undergone an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedure to remove one of the gallstones that slipped into his bile duct.

Meanwhile, the veteran leader is scheduled to join the Congress' Rahul Gandhi-led 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' on November 8, a day after it enters Maharashtra through Nanded. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole confirmed the development and said that Pawar has accepted the invitation to be part of the nationwide march.

Patole also said that Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray has also been invited but the latter is yet to confirm his presence.

Rahul Gandhi is slated to address rallies in Nanded and Shegaon in Buldhana as part of the 150-day-long Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"The Bharat Jodo Yatra's entry in Nanded coincides with the completion of 75 years of liberation of Marathwada from the rule of the (Hyderabad) Nizam. We will be celebrating the occasion with Rahul Gandhi in Nanded," Patole said.

(With agency inputs)