Sonia Gandhi back in Delhi after surgery

Sep 8, 2011, 8:07 GMT

New Delhi - Sonia Gandhi, chief of India's ruling party, returned to New Delhi on Thursday after undergoing surgery abroad for an undisclosed ailment, the party's senior spokesman said.

Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters that Gandhi, who leads the, Indian National Congress party, arrived in Delhi in the early hours of Thursday.

'The Congress president returned early today. Her health condition is fine,' Dwivedi said.

The 64-year-old leader left for the United States for treatment in early August, local media outlets reported.

Leading domestic newspapers, quoting senior Congress party sources, said she was being treated at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Italian-born Gandhi, the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, is considered India's most powerful politician.

Her month-long absence had created serious challenges for the government.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as Gandhi's son, Rahul, the heir of the powerful Gandhi dynasty and tipped as future prime minister, were criticized for mishandling the anti-graft campaign by social activist Anna Hazare.

Gandhi had named a four-member group to look after party affairs in her absence. It comprised Rahul Gandhi, Defence Minister AK Antony, political advisor Ahmed Patel, and Dwivedi.