Former union minister Tapan Sikdar on ventillator

Kolkata: BJP leader and former union minister Tapan Sikdar was put on ventilator support Tuesday after he was admitted to a private hospital following serious respiratory problems.

Sikdar, who was taken to the hospital Monday night, is in serious condition, party sources said. One of the architects in the growth of the BJP in the state in the 1990s, Sikdar was a union minister in the Atal Behari Vajapyee government from 1999 to 2004. The 69-year-old leader, a two-time Lok Sabha member, fought and lost in the recent parliamentary polls from Dum Dum constituency.