Vajpayee & Shekhawat visit Pramod Mahajan

Mumbai, Apr 23: Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were among scores of VIPs who today visited Hinduja hospital here to inquire about the health of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Pramod Mahajan who is battling for life after being shot by his younger brother here yesterday.

As Mr Shekhawat and Mr Vajpayee walked into the hospital this afternoon, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh along with Mr L K Advani's daughter Pratibha were seen coming out.

BJP president Rajnath Singh and vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who have been camping in the city since last evening, were also inside the hospital when Mr Shekhawat accompanied by Mr Vajapyee arrived at the hospital.

Earlier, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, after visiting the ICU of the hospital where Mr Mahajan is under constant observartion after his four-hour surgery at around noon yesterday, told mediapersons that Mr Mahajan has showed '' slight improvement but there are still complications.''

Rahul Mahajan, who emerged with Mr Jaswant Singh, said his father today exhibited signs of ''consciousness'' when he tried to respond through gestures when he asked him how he was feeling. ''Glint in papa's eyes and slight movement of fingers have kindled hopes in us,'' Rahul said in his first interaction with the media.

Party Spokesman Mr V K Malhotra, while interacting with a group of people, including a few women, was heard saying that Mr Mahajan is '' emotionally responding'' but '' medical response '' is still awaited. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhra Raje, who visited the hospital yesterday, visited again today.

Mr Arun Jaitley, Mr Shah Nawaz Hussain, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mr V K Goel were among other BJP leaders who came to the hospital to know Mr Mahajan's condition.

Among the first visitors today were lyricist Javed Akhtar and his actress wife Shabana Azmi, while actor-turned BJP MP from Barmer Dharmendra walked in shorly before the arrival of Mr Sekhawat and Mr Vajpayee.

Actors Anupam Kher, Raza Murad and Pankaj Dheer, Karna of Mahabharat fame, also visited the hospital.

Earlier, Mr Naqvi told reporters the condition of Mr Mahajan has improved slightly. He appealed to the party workers not to troop to the hospital but pray for early recovery of Mr Mahajan where ever they are.

Meanwhile, the local BJP workers have set up a makeshift ' pandal' adjacent to the hospital to prevent crowding of road sanitised by the police because of heavy VIP movement. Police have also deployed sniffer dogs and taken charge of the hospital security.

RSS Chief K S Sudarshan is understood to have sent a letter to Mr Mahajan's family, wishing him an early recovery.

MPCC President Prabha Rau and State Excise Minister Ganesh Naik were among the prominent Congress leaders who also visited the hospital.

UNI