SONIA Gandhi, the head of India’s ruling party, will attend her first meeting today with Congress party members since returning from undisclosed surgery in the US.
The 64-year-old’s absence for more than a month left the party and coalition government struggling to deal with the biggest protests in decades and coincided with a plunge in popularity for the party.
There have been several media reports she was operated on for cancer at a specialist hospital in New York. The party has declined to comment.
Gandhi was due to attend a meeting of party officials to discuss candidates for state elections in Uttar Pradesh next year, an election seen as vital for the party’s chances of winning a third term in a 2014 national vote.
A still image of Sonia sitting in a car was shown on broadcaster CNN-IBN today, the first images of her since she slipped out of the country in early August for surgery.
