With each passing minute and little information coming from doctors operating on Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan, tension prevailed outside the Hinduja hospital on Sunday night.

Till 8 pm, seemed to be normal as Mahajan's son Rahul claimed that his father was okay and even smiled at him in the afternoon.

However things changed drastically after 8 pm as the news leaked out that an operation was being conducted on him. But it was unclear why the operation was being conducted, as doctors had earlier in the day stated that the operation would be conducted on Monday morning.

At 10pm, Dr Anupam Verma, dean of Mumbai's Hinduja Hospital, said that the operation was undertaken after Mahajan's vital parameters became unstable between 6 and 7pm on Sunday evening.

"Doctors decided to immediately perform the operation, which was originally scheduled to take place on Monday morning. They have attributed the condition to intra-abdominal pressure," Dr Verma said.

He added that the pressure packs, which had been placed on Mahajan's liver to control bleeding, were removed in this surgery and there is 'no more active bleeding'.

"Mr Mahajan is stable, but critical. He is still in the operation theatre and will be placed in the ICU on ventilator support," Dr Verma said.

He said doctors will decide, on the basis of hourly monitoring, whether or not Mahajan can be operated upon on Monday morning. "It is undecided as for now. We will keep monitoring his condition. His vital parameters are now under control," Dr Verma said.

Even after passing of 36 hours the word 'out of danger' has never been mentioned by hospital authorities while speaking about Mahajan's health.

Mahajan was shot at by his brother, Pravin, on Saturday morning and rushed from his residence to Hinduja Hospital, where he has been since. Pravin is now under police custody in Mumbai.

BJP leaders like Gopinath Munde, Nitink Gadkari, Vinod Tawde and Atul Shah have literally camped outside the
Hinduja hospital. Earlier in the day, former prime minister A B Vajpayee visited Mahajan and told reporters that he was hopeful that he will emerge healthy from this crisis.