The condition of the ailing former Bengal CM continues to remain critical with a slight drop in haemoglobin, which made it necessary to give him another unit of blood.

Doctors at AMRI said although he has shown slight improvement, it is not as much as is expected of a patient who is in the ICCU. The infection has gone down marginally but his urine output is still low, and he is being administered a liquid diet.

AK Maity, consultant cardiac surgeon of the hospital, said his infection has been controlled up to 60 per cent. The C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood has been controlled as doctors have changed the dose of antibiotic.

Lalu Prasad, who visited Basu today, said he was the tallest leader in the country. He said that both Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet have always spoken against reactionary forces and Basu was the symbol of courage. He said the country still needed a mass leader like him.

Lalu Prasad also said that had Basu accepted the post of the Prime Minister when he was being considered for it there would have been a lot of improvement in the country.

Meanwhile, taking a dig at Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, he said that increasing the number of trains would not help in development of the Indian Railways.

He also pointed out that the Railway Budget would be announced in February and it would become clear whether the Railways was better during his tenure or under Banerjee.