Madhya Pradesh: BJP veteran, 71, suffers heart attack after party denies ticket in upcoming assembly polls

After being refused a ticket for the assembly poll, veteran BJP politician Umashankar Gupta, 71, suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital on Monday afternoon. He’s steady. As per the reports, the BJP chose not to give Gupta another chance, despite fielding a number of older politicians, including 76-year-old Jayant Malaiya, 74-year-old Maya Singh, 73-year-old Sitasharan Sharma, and 80-year-old Nagendra Singh. Digvijaya Singh, a Congress leader, paid him a visit in the hospital. Former home minister, mayor of Bhopal, and three-term MLA from Bhopal South West Gupta had hoped to be fielded from the same seat, but general secretary Bhagwandas Sabnani, a newcomer, was chosen by the BJP. After suffering a heart attack, the patient had an angiography, which revealed a problem with an artery. As a result, an angioplasty surgery was performed," an Anant Shree Hospital physician stated. Gupta should be released within the next 48 hours. Chief of the state BJP media cell Ashish Agarwal stated, “The check-up found that Gupta ji has 100% blockage. He is now steady.” Many of Gupta’s followers rushed to the hospital as soon as word of his heart attack spread. They have been demonstrating against Sabnani’s ticket and held loud demonstrations at the Bhopal BJP headquarters on Saturday. In addition to holding the portfolios of science and technology and revenue from 2013 to 2018, Gupta also won the Bhopal South West seat in 2003, 2008, and 2013. However, in 2018, he was defeated by Congressman P C Sharma in a margin of about 6,500 votes. This time, Sharma has been put forward by the Congress.