Lalu undergoes three surgeries, condition fine

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Wednesday underwent a marathon six-hour-15-minute-long surgery here to treat his heart condition, doctors said. His condition was said to be fine.

"We performed three procedures on him - for an aortic valve replacement, an aortic repair and repairing a 3mm hole in the heart," heart surgeon Ramakanta Panda told IANS after the surgeries.

Lalu Prasad is now in the intensive cardiac care unit and is likely to be discharged within 10-12 days, said Panda, the chief of the Asian Heart Institute at the Bandra Kurla Complex here.

"He tolerated the surgeries very well and I think he may be fit for part-time political activities in a fortnight and fulltime in a month," Panda said.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal president was admitted to the hospital Monday, and was diagnosed Tuesday with aortic stenosis necessitating the surgeries, according to Asian Heart Institute (AHI) medical director Vijay D'Silva.

Meanwhile, many RJD activists came to enquire about his health and pray for him.