'I feel like I am reborn', says Laxmi Hebbalkar after being discharged

Belagavi: Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, who had suffered fractures in the vertebrae and neck after her car crashed into a roadside tree near Kittur on January 14, was discharged after 13 days of treatment at a private hospital here on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters following her discharge, the minister claimed that she had a rebirth.

“Surviving the accident I feel like I am reborn. The doctors have advised me to rest for three weeks. But being a minister, I have certain responsibilities and duties to discharge ahead of the budget scheduled for March first week. My department is functioning well and I will return to public life after taking rest as advised by the doctors. For now, I am holding budget-related meetings through video conferencing,” the minister said.

Prayers of the people of my constituency and blessings of the seers of various mutts gave me strength.... The chief minister, his deputy and several ministers and legislators visited me at the hospital and enquired about my well-being. I am thankful to all those who wished for my speedy recovery, Hebbalkar said.

She thanked Dr Ravi Patil of Vijaya Hospital with an emotional letter addressed to him.

‘Politics over sufferings’

Replying to a query on BJP leaders’ allegation that large bags of cash were removed from the minister’s car following the accident, Hebbalkar said, “They (BJP leaders) are stone-hearted. I won’t react to the comments made by them. They play politics over people’s sufferings.”

“On the night of January 13, we left Bengaluru for Belagavi to celebrate Sankranti at our native Hirehattihole on the banks of Malaprabha river. We were planning to reach there before 7 am for a holy bath. Since the programme was decided last-minute, we went without escort,” Hebbalkar clarified.