Now, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu sheds his ‘heavyweight’ tag

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Venkaiah Naidu is the latest politician to undergo surgery to shed his ‘heavyweight’ tag. HT reports.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Venkaiah Naidu is the latest politician to undergo surgery to shed his ‘heavyweight’ tag.

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Naidu, who weighed about 120kg, underwent a gastric bypass surgery at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre in Delhi on Saturday.

According to doctors, Naidu was suffering from diabetes for the past 10 years and required 70 units of insulin every day to control his blood sugar levels. “He suffers from central obesity, meaning the weight is accumulated around the stomach region,” said Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, director and chief of bariatric metabolic and minimal access surgery, Fortis Hospitals, who operated on Naidu.

Apart from insulin injections, Naidu was on oral medication to control his blood sugar level. Naidu had also undergone an angioplasty procedure to clear a block in his heart.

Owing to Naidu’s medical history, his cardiologists and diabetologist convinced him to undergo the weight loss surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery involves reducing the size of the stomach, leading to satiety with a small quantity of food thus helping in controlling sugar levels. Naidu was discharged from hospital on Monday. “After the surgery his insulin intake has reduced,” said Dr Lakdawala.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari and MLC Vinod Tawde, Congress minister Nitin Raut and NCP leader Nawab Malik have also undergone weight loss surgery in the past. Gadkari had weighed 123kg before the surgery and has lost 23kg since.