According to IANS, Tehelka news magazine reported on Twitter that Sonia was admitted on Thursday to New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the world's largest private cancer centre according to the hospital website.
The same report said that renowned oncologist Dr Dattatreyudu Nori, director of the cancer centre at the New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens, was said to be attending on her.
This is the second time in over two months that Sonia left the national capital unannounced. Her sudden departure then was also related to the same medical problem and she had gone to US that time as well, sources said. The previous trip was for diagnosis while this one is for surgery and treatment. About two years, she was admitted to Delhi’s Gangaram hospital but then too, the cause of hospitalisation was not revealed.
Taking almost everyone by surprise, the Congress on Thursday announced that Sonia had gone abroad to undergo surgery for a “medical condition” and will be out of the country for two to three weeks for treatment.
Party tight-lipped
The party did not disclose the “medical condition” or name the country where Sonia is being treated but sources said she was away in the US.
Making the announcement, Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi told reporters that Sonia, who is 64, was recently diagnosed with a medical condition and had been advised surgery. “On the advice of her doctors, she has travelled abroad and she is likely to be away for two to three weeks,” he said. Reports reaching here late Thursday evening suggested that Sonia’s surgery at a New York hospital was successful.
Because of illness, Sonia, also the UPA chairperson, could not attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Strategy Committee and the Congress Core Group. She also did not attend the Parliament session which started on August 1. After the surgery, Sonia will be away for three weeks but it could be longer before she is back to work.
But before leaving for the US Sonia appointed a caretaker team of party leaders to “look after after the affairs of the Congress”. In a letter to party leaders, Sonia said before her departure to the US that the four-member team would comprise Defence Minister A K Antony, Rahul, Dwivedi and her political advisor Ahmed Patel.
Although Rahul and his sister Priyanka Vadra are with Sonia in the US, he is scheduled to return now that Sonia’s surgery is through. That he has been named in the caretaker group of leaders is being read by many as a response to recent expressions within the Congress that Rahul play a larger role within the party.
A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that he would be happy to step down in favour of Rahul, but that the party had not discussed this possibility.