Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee may be away from the public gaze but he is 'pretty fine' and does not suffer from memory loss, say his BJP president Rajnath Singh.
NEW DELHI: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee may be away from the public gaze but he is 'pretty fine' and does not suffer from memory loss, dementia or cerebral atrophy, say his personal physician and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh.
Clearing the air, rife with talk that the BJP leader's mental faculties are impaired, both Randeep Guleria, medicine professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, and the party president said he was undergoing physiotherapy.
"He is meeting party members. If I know correctly he also met Advaniji last week. Yes, he has a problem with his knees. But he is undergoing physiotherapy and is moving inside his house," said Guleria.
"Vajpayeeji comes to his dining room to have his meals. He is meeting a cross-section of people. The other day he sat and watched the entire cricket match. Yes, sometimes he does forget people's names. But then all of us sometime tend to forget names and faces," Guleria told.
Guleria was quoted by a weekly English magazine as saying that Vajpayee was suffering from cerebral atrophy and dementia. Guleria was quoted in a separate story accompanying the Tehelka cover story as stating, "There are signs in the MRI scan, but they are age related."
Guleria did not deny these quotes when confronted but said,: "I don't know what is the politics behind this."
Rajnath Singh also denied reports of his poor mental health.
"He (Vajpayee) is pretty fine. Doctors say his condition is steadily improving. Yes, he is not yet appearing in public because he still needs some physiotherapy," said the BJP president.
"He is taking physiotherapy treatment two times a day. But his mental faculties are fine. I met him only four days ago and had a long conversation with him."
Vajpayee's failing health has become the focal point of the leadership tussle in the main opposition party.
The issue came under intense scrutiny just before the Bhopal National Executive of the BJP when the question of who would lead the party in the next election seemed uppermost.
Advani supporters clamoured that he be made BJP's prime ministerial candidate, a demand that gained strength when Vajpayee decided not to go for the Sep 21-23 meet.
But in Bhopal Rajnath Singh fished out a piece of paper from his pocket to read out Vajpayee's message that he was recovering from his illness and would be back soon with party members, leading to some suggesting that the BJP president had forged it as the former prime minister was not in position to write such a letter.
Advani himself expressed surprise saying, "I came back to Delhi on Sep 20. Shortly after my return, I called on Atalji to enquire about his health. He told me that doctors had advised him not to travel to Bhopal and take rest. However, I was very happy to find that his health had improved considerably since I had last met him.
"Let us pray that this happens very soon and he continues to lead and guide us, as in the past," he said in his valedictory address.
Rajnath Singh rubbished the speculation, "Can anyone even imagine forging a letter of Vajpayeeji? Imagine the extent to which people can go."
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