Patna, Jan. 12: Union minister for food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswanwas rushed to Paras HMRI Hospital around 8.35pm on Thursday after he complained of cardiac pain.

Doctors told The Telegraph that the minister's condition was stable and he was under observation. Ajay Kumar Sinha, a cardiology department doctor at the hospital, said the MP from Hajipur suffered a left ventricular failure in which the heart's left ventricle functioning is below expectations.

"Left ventricular failure means pumping of blood to the left side of the heart is affected because of which the heart cannot pump enough blood to the whole body," said Sanjeev Kumar, head of the cardio-thoracic department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Patna.

"Usually, in such cases, blood pressure comes down and end organs such as kidney and liver are affected because oxygen does not reach these parts in sufficient amount. Fluid retention is also affected as a result. The body cannot pump out extra fluid during this condition, because of which there is a kind of fluid overload in the body. It creates further pressure on the heart. This condition is dangerous.

"It is even more serious given the fact that Paswan had left ventricular dysfunction earlier too."

Sources said Paswan had suffered a mild heart attack during elections in 2005.