NCP chief Sharad Pawar admitted to Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital

NCP spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik said that Sharad Pawar was taken to the hospital due to a fresh, sudden pain in his abdomen.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar was admitted to Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital on Tuesday after he complained of pain in his abdomen, state minister and party spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

"Attention please. Our party president Sharad Pawar saheb was supposed to be admitted in hospital for endoscopy and surgery procedure tomorrow, but since he is experiencing some pain again in the abdomen, he is admitted in Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai today,” Malik tweeted.

On Monday, Malik, who is the Mumbai president of Pawar's party, said that the former Maharashtra chief minister felt a little uneasy on Sunday, evening due to pain in his abdomen, and, hence, was taken to the Breach Candy Hospital for a check-up.

A problem was detected in Pawar's gall bladder, Malik had announced, adding that the NCP chief would be hospitalised on March 31 for an endoscopy and surgery.

Before his diagnosis, Pawar was scheduled to go on a three-day visit to West Bengal, starting April 1, to campaign for chief minister Mamata Banerjee, for the ongoing eight-phase assembly elections in the eastern state. However, all his appointments were put on hold after the detection of the problem in his gall bladder.

The former Union minister is considered as the architect of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition in Maharashtra, comprising his party, the Shiv Sena and the Congress. However, in recent days, he has found himself defending party colleague and state home minister Anil Deshmukh, who has been accused by former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh of running an “extortion racket” in Mumbai.

Last Saturday, Pawar reportedly met Union home minister Amit Shah, along with fellow NCP leader, Praful Patel, in Ahmedabad, triggering speculations that Shah’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Pawar’s NCP could come together to form the government in Maharashtra. In a media interaction on Sunday, Shah didn’t deny meeting Pawar, remarking that “everything can’t be made public.”