Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to former Union Minister Arun Shourie at a Pune hospital, where he is undergoing treatment a head injury suffered last week.
“In Pune, I met former Union Minister Arun Shourie Ji. Enquired about his health and had a wonderful interaction with him. We pray for his long and healthy life,” Modi tweeted along with photographs of the meeting.
In Pune, I met former Union Minister Arun Shourie Ji. Enquired about his health and had a wonderful interaction with him.
We pray for his long and healthy life. pic.twitter.com/arjXSUoirf
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2019
The former BJP minister turned bitter critic of the party was admitted at the hospital after he fainted and fell near his home in Lavasa near Pune on December 1 during a walk. 78-year-old Shourie sustained injuries on the back of his head, with internal injuries. He was rushed to a hospital at Hinjewadi near Pune, from where he was shifted to Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune, where he is being treated in the ICU.
PM Modi visited Shourie at the hospital at around 6 PM today, and spent about 45 minutes at the hospital. He talked to Shourie’s relatives outside his room after spending around 15 minutes with him. According to hospital sources the visit was not announced before. The PM was in Pune to attend the three-day conference of IGs and DGPs.
“The Prime Minister’s visit was a jovial one and we did have some time alone and I gave some suggestions,” Shourie told The Indian Express after Modi came to meet him at the hospital.
Read: Understanding Arun Shourie’s Modi Riddle
Arun Shourie was the central minister of Communications, Information Technology and Disinvestment in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004. But his relatonship with turned sour after Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014. Ahead of Lok Sabha elections this year, he had urged the opposition parties to work together to oust the BJP government. He was present at a grand rally of opposition parties held at Kolkata, and had alleged that the Modi government has lied on all counts.
He had also alleged that Modi government had created an atmosphere of intolerance in the country, and one of the petitioners to move the Supreme Court against the Rafale deal, along with Prashant Bhushan, Yashwant Sinha.
