Click to play videoNew Delhi: The chintan baithak (soul searching) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Nagpur is certainly missing its patriarch and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Vajpayee has been put on ventilator following respiratory problems at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
Good wishes have been pouring in for the former prime minister with Congress President Sonia Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee paying a visit to Vajpayee on Saturday.
Sonia visit meet an ailing Vajpayee was a sure sign that the 84-year-old former prime minister isn't too well. It was also a sign that it is only Vajpayee who attracts such respect and concern across the political divide.
And after Sonia, Pranab Mukherjee deputising for Manmohan Singh, too, paid a quiet visit.
However, the doctors attending Vajpayee are a worried lot.
"He is still hospitalised in the ICU of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He is still on respiratory support of ventilator," said Dr Sampath Kumar, head of Cardiac Thoracic Vascular Sciences of AIIMS.
For the BJP leadership, busy with the party's National Council at Nagpur, Vajpayee's failing health has been more than bad news.
The Gwalior-born leader has been the party's mascot, the face of moderation, the core of coalition dharma.
Anxiety over Vajpayee hovered over Nagpur with the leaders saying that despite the distance their prayers are with Vajpayee and that they need him for guidance.
"Today in this National Council I pray to the god on behalf of all of you for his well being," said BJP President Rajnath Singh.
Doctors aren't willing to divulge much. They do admit that both lungs being affected by pneumonia isn't good for the leader's health and the next 48 hours will be crucial.
(With inputs from Seemi Pasha, Sumit Pande and Divyamanu Chaudhry)
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