Bhujbal looks to Kerala to cure stamp blues

The high-profile NCP leader, discharged on Thursday from Breach Candy Hospital after an angiography, will spend the next month in the sylvan environs of a health retreat at Palakkad in Kerala. ‘‘At least for some time, doctors have advised me to forget politics, so I decided to relax at the naturopathy centre,’’ Bhujbal said.

With the Opposition advising the same over his alleged role in the fake stamp paper scam, Bhujbal steered clear of any controversy. ‘‘My health is my top priority. I am not aware of what Bal Thackeray said about me on BJP’s plan to rope in Pawar into the NDA,’’ he said.

Bhujbal, however, is not the first politician from Maharashtra to take recourse to naturopathy, although others may have picked a less eventful season. His mentor Sharad Pawar and BJP’s Gopinath Munde have been there before him. ‘‘This centre is my second home. Whenever I feel like relaxing, I make a visit,’’ Bhujbal said.

The NCP leader dismissed allegations that he had retreated to Kerala to avoid appearing before the SIT. ‘‘I am not involved in the scandal in any manner. In fact, I had taken the lead to set up the SIT,’’ he said.

Bhujbal’s personal physician Ashwin Mehta said the leader was stressed out and was advised to relax at a place where he would remain detached from politics for a while. ‘‘Bhujbal is a very aggressive politician. He is conscious about his image. Apparently, he was stressed out due to some allegations,’’ Mehta said.

‘‘Bhujbal has been a patient of hypertension for a long time so we thought a thorough investigation was necessary,’’ said Mehta.