CPI-M Leader Sitaram Yechury Continues To Be Under Treatment For Chest Infection At AIIMS

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury continues to be under treatment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, for a respiratory infection, the party said on Saturday.

According to the sources, Yechury is in critical condition. He was admitted to the medical facility on August 19 for treatment of a severe respiratory ailment. The exact nature of the ailment was, however, not revealed by the hospital. According to AIIMS sources, Yechury was admitted in the emergency department of the hospital and was later shifted to the ICU.

“Comrade Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), continues to be under treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences of New Delhi,” the CPI(M) said in a statement.

“He is under the care of a team of specialist doctors who are treating him for respiratory infection,” it said.

A source from the CPI(M) said that Yechury had gone for a checkup, and was admitted due to respiratory ailment.

The CPI(M) leader had recently undergone cataract surgery.

Who is Sitaram Yechury?

Yechury is a member of the politburo of the CPI(M). He joined the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) in 1974 and a year later, he became a member of the CPI(M).

In the 1970s, Yechury was President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union led by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) thrice. He was arrested during the Emergency. He, along with Prakash Karat, was responsible for turning JNU into a Left bastion.

Yechury is known for continuing the coalition-building legacy of former general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet. He collaborated with P Chidambaram to draft the common minimum programme for the United Front government in 1996 and played a key role in the coalition-building efforts during the formation of the United Progressive Alliance government in 2004.