Fasting Chandrababu Naidu taken to hospital, stable

New Delhi : Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu was Friday taken to a city hospital from the venue of his fast at Andhra Bhavan here even as hundreds of his supporters tried to stop police from moving him. Doctors said his condition was stable.

“Naidu has been admitted to the hospital’s nursing room number 6. His condition is stable except the level of ketones has increased in urine,” Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital’s medical superintendent H.K. Kar told IANS.

Kar said the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister refused to be administered a glucose drip but drank water. Efforts were on to persuade him, he added.

Earlier in the day, there was high drama as scores of Delhi Police personnel reached Andhra Bhavan, where Naidu was on fast since Monday, to protest the manner in which the Congress decided to carve out a separate Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh.

Seeing the police approach, angry supporters of Naidu formed a ring around their leader. They shouted slogans and also vandalised the Bhavan’s property.

Senior police officers tried to reason with Naidu, who finally agreed and then proceeded towards the ambulance, which along with a team of doctors from the hospital were present at the venue since morning.

The TDP chief was then taken to the RML Hospital.

According to senior police officials, a team of doctors intimated police and Naidu’s party members earlier in the morning that he should be shifted to the hospital for treatment.

“Around 2 p.m., two companies of police reached the venue. The supporters tried to stop us but Naidu himself stepped towards the ambulance,” a police officer told IANS.

At the hospital, a wheelchair was offered to him but he walked into the ward, said the officer.

On Thursday, union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, in reply to a query, said Delhi Police could help Andhra Bhavan authorities evict Naidu if they had a court order. Naidu has been fasting since five days.