Shukla's condition improves marginally

Congress leader V.C. Shukla, injured in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh, has shown signs of improvement but remains critical, doctors said Saturday.

"He has shown marginal improvement but is not out of danger and remains critical," A.K. Dubey, medical superintendent of the Medanta Hospital here, told IANS.

Doctors performed exploratory laparotomy surgery (a diagnostic tool that allows physicians to examine the abdominal area) last week when he was admitted to the hospital.

Shukla, 84, a former union minister, received three bullet injuries and lost a lot of blood in the attack on a Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region May 25. He was flown in an air ambulance to Delhi and taken to Medanta Medicity in Gurgaon, where a multi-disciplinary team of doctors is treating him.

Shukla's father, Ravishankar Shukla, was the first chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. V.C. Shukla was inducted into the union cabinet in 1966 by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.