Yeddy hops hospitals

Yeddyurappa

Bangalore, Oct. 18: B.S. Yeddyurappa checked into a second hospital this evening after the first one certified him fit to go back to jail.

The former Karnataka chief minister, remanded in judicial custody on land scam charges, was discharged from the state-run Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences this evening after a two-day stay and diagnostic tests that found his heart to be in stable condition.

But after his release from Jayadeva around 6.30pm, he was taken out through the hospital’s canteen gate to avoid the media and rushed to Victoria Hospital, also state-run, in an ambulance. Victoria Hospital did not release any bulletin about his health today.

Earlier in the day, C.N. Manjunath, the director of Jayadeva, certified Yeddyurappa’s cardiac health as normal. He hinted that more tests may be needed to diagnose his problem of frequent urination and backache. But Manjunath, also the son-in-law of Yeddyurappa’s rival H.D. Deve Gowda, left it to jail authorities to decide the next step.

His medical bulletin came hours after Karnataka High Court deferred to October 20 the hearing on Yeddyurappa’s interim bail plea.

At Victoria Hospital, which is closer to Yeddyurappa’s home, he has been put in the surgical gastroenterology ward. So far, his medical bulletins have not mentioned any gastro-related problems.

Yeddyurappa has been given an air-conditioned room on the second floor in the hospital’s centenary wing where his former cabinet colleague Katta Subramania Naidu, accused in another land scam, is admitted for cancer treatment.

Even before Yeddyurappa was discharged from Jayadeva, the Victoria Hospital was crawling with policemen, an indication that the former chief minister had a Plan B in mind in case he did not get bail.

“He is becoming a joke in the eyes of the people by dodging his remand by feigning illness,” said Y.S.V. Datta, the spokesperson of the Janata Dal (S).

BJP leaders did not speak on the matter, especially after L.K. Advani today spoke about the party’s embarrassment over Yeddyurappa’s dealings.