Rama Singh gets VIP treatment at the emergency ward of MGM Hospital. Picture by Uma Shanker Dubey

Jamshedpur, June 13: Forget ideologies, there’s a common thread that binds politicians across partylines. They all are apparently “weak- hearted” and prefer to cool their heels in hospitals rather jails, when remanded in judicial custody for any offence.

Laloo Prasad Yadav was rushed to Bihar Military Hospital during Emergency when he was arrested. Rajan Tiwari, another Bihar don-turned-MLA and Purnea MP Pappu Yadav, a murder accused, preferred hospitals to jails.

The latest inclusion in this long list of hospital-buffs is another Bihar MLA, Rama Singh, accused in a triple murder case in the steel city. He was remanded in judicial custody, but instead of staying in the shoddy Sakchi jail, he was admitted to MGM hospital with a heart problem.

A visit to the special room of the emergency ward of the hospital showed that the occupant was a VIP. Two brand new chairs, a large bed with a new bed sheet and a centre table adorned the spick-and-span room.

As the room in the emergency block of the hospital had been allotted to a VIP, the authorities worked overtime to ensure that the legislator got all the facilities usually available in plush hotels or at the circuit house. Criminal-turned-politician Rama Singh cannot complain.

Visitors at the emergency ward found Singh flipping through a newspaper this morning. Suddenly, the phone started ringing. One of Singh's aides picked up the receiver before passing it on to the MLA. “A call from Patna,’’ he informed.

“Yesterday, Ram Vilas Paswan, the Union steel minister, called me to enquire about my health. He directed me get in touch with him in case I faced any problems,” a relaxed Singh told The Telegraph.

Singh tucked in a dry chapati and a spoonful of bland subzee . “Doctors have advised me to have less spicy food. I have to be extra careful about my health. After all, I am a heart patient,” he said.

“I have some relatives in the steel city and so I do not worry about food,” Singh said.

When contacted, superintendent of Sakchi jail, Deepak Vidyarthy, said it was the prerogative of the medical college hospital superintendent to decide where an undertrial should be kept.