Prasad out of Danger; Nokha MLA Was the Intended Target
Patna: October 6, 2005
Former Union Minister and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad who was shot at an election rally in Sasaram on Thursday, is said to be out of any danger though the doctors continue to keep a close eye on him due to excessive bleeding in the left arm.
Earlier, doctors performed surgery on him and pulled out the lodged bullet from his arm. The injury also caused multiple fractures in his elbow and will have to undergo treatment for that, the doctors said.
As reported earlier, Prasad was shot at an election rally at Nokha, approximately 25 kilometers from Sasaram. The lone gunman managed to climb up the dais and shot at Prasad from less than 2 feet hitting him in his left elbow, reports suggested.
The former Information and Broadcasting Minister collapsed on the stage and fainted. He was rushed to a Sasaram hospital but in the lack of adequate facility, had to be air-lifted to Patna.
The perpetrator, holding two guns in his hands shot indiscriminately at BJP leaders on the stage narrowly missing party general secretary Pramod Mahajan and Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia, former MLA from Nokha.
According to some leaders, Chaurasia was the main target of the gunman apparently because he happens to be one of the NDA leaders who filed a petition with the Supreme Court protesting the dissolution of Bihar Assembly by the UPA government.
The gunman was caught by the NDA supporters and beaten to death on the spot. The police are trying to establish his identity.
Prasad’s wife who was in Delhi when the attack took place rushed to Patna after hearing the news of her husband been shot. Senior BJP leaders including Arun Jaitley also flew to Patna to enquire about the condition of Prasad.
Party president and former deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani called the incident unfortunate and ‘another example of complete failure of law and order in Bihar’.
Mahajan, who was visibly shook up by the incident, said the Election Commission (EC) should take extra measures to ensure such attacks did not occur during the Assembly polls in Bihar while also adding this was an attempt to influence the voters in the state.
Bihar will go through yet another Assembly polls in less than 9 months after the Governor Buta Singh opted to dissolve the Assembly on charges of ‘serious horse-trading’ in the last poll.
The first phase of the four-phased elections is set to begin on October 18, less than two weeks from today.
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