The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday said Tihar authorities were 'lying' about specialist doctors examining Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while his wife Sunita Kejriwal alleged that he was being denied insulin for diabetes as 'they want to kill' him.
However, Tihar officials countered AAP's claim saying senior specialists from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) provided consultation to the chief minister through video conference on Saturday and 'neither the issue of insulin was raised by Kejriwal, nor was it suggested by the doctors'.
Carrying insulin vials in their hands, AAP leaders and workers protested outside the Tihar jail in west Delhi.
They held placards and posters with the slogans, 'Give insulin to Arvind Kejriwal' and 'Don't play with the life of Arvind Kejriwal'.
Delhi minister Atishi claimed Kejriwal's life is danger due to the actions of the Tihar administration.
Sunita Kejriwal raised the issue of her husband's health at an Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) block rally in the Jharkhand capital and asserted that the opposition will fight against the 'dictatorship' of the Bharatiya Janata Party and win.
"They want to kill my husband Arvind Kejriwal. His food is under camera observation; he is denied insulin. My husband is a sugar patient who has been on insulin for 12 years; he needs 50 units of insulin daily," she said at the Ulgulan Nyay Rally in Ranchi.
In a post on X, Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav said it is 'shocking' that Kejriwal is being 'denied insulin' in jail to control his rising sugar level and cognisance should be taken at the highest level to expose the 'conspiracy' behind it.
Earlier in the day, addressing a press conference, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, 'The DG (Prisons) wrote a letter yesterday asking for a diabetologist from AIIMS. This shows that the BJP-led central government and jail administration were lying till now that they have specialist doctors.'
'Today, the central government of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been exposed in front of everyone. Till Saturday, these people were saying they have all the specialists, insulin. Everything is available in the jail.
'He is a chief minister, he is a severe diabetic and is saying every day to show him to a diabetologist, I need insulin... an elected Chief Minister is not being given medicine,' he charged.
The Tihar administration responded to Bharadwaj's charge, saying appropriate senior specialists from AIIMS provided consultation to Kejriwal through video conference on Saturday.
"After a 40-minute detailed consultation, Kejriwal was assured that there was no serious concern and was advised to continue with the prescribed medicines, which will be evaluated and reviewed regularly," a jail official said.
The video conference was organised by the Tihar Jail administration on the request of Kejriwal's wife.
Apart from a senior specialist from the hospital, medical officers of Tihar were also on the call.
The AIIMS specialist was provided with a complete record of CGM (Glucose Monitoring Sensor) and details of diet and medicines being taken by Kejriwal.
"Neither the issue of insulin was raised by Kejriwal, nor was it suggested by the doctors," the official added.
Objecting to the 'deviation' from the standard practice of monitoring blood sugar levels of fasting and post-prandial by relying on readings of random sugar levels, Bharadwaj said there is a set method of testing sugar levels.
"Whenever you talk about monitoring the sugar of a diabetic patient, what do you monitor? You say how much is your fasting sugar, that is, you wake up in the morning and measure your sugar level.
"Then, you eat breakfast -- it is obvious that after having breakfast, sugar will increase -- and after two hours, sugar level is measured, how much hormone (insulin) is your body producing, what is the sugar level. This is a standard method, a global method, it cannot be changed," he said.
He said that Kejriwal's random blood sugar readings are being presented.
On Friday, the Tihar jail administration submitted a report to Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena, saying that the chief minister's health was reviewed on April 10 and April 15 by a medicine specialist who advised oral anti-diabetic drugs and it is 'incorrect to state that Kejriwal was denied insulin at any point of time' during his treatment.
Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money-laundering case linked to the Delhi government's now-scrapped excise policy. He has been lodged in Tihar jail since April 1.
At the protest by AAP outside the Tihar jail, Delhi minister Atishi said the people of Delhi have sent insulin for Arvind Kejriwal.
"Today, his sugar level has reached above 300 and the sugar level is continuously above 300. If you consult any doctor not only in Delhi and the country but in the world, they will tell you that if the sugar level is above 300, it cannot be reduced without taking an Insulin injection.
"The Tihar administration is refusing to give insulin, then clearly Arvind Kejriwal's life is in danger," she said.
Atishi and other AAP leaders tried to give insulin injections to the officials.
"But the jail officials refused to take the insulin," she said.
"Such cheap politics has never happened in the history of this country before. The BJP should let Kejriwal be given insulin," she said.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said the Aam Aadmi Party has lost its connect with the people of Delhi and is passing through a 'phase of political frustration'.
"The AAP leaders' only political hope today is to create public sympathy over the health of Arvind Kejriwal," he said.
