Sonia Gandhi Undergoing Treatment For Stomach Infection: Hospital Officials

Interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was admitted to the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Sunday, is undergoing treatment for stomach infection, hospital authorities said. Her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were with her when she was admitted to the hospital. "She was admitted to hospital on Sunday at 7 PM and has undergone medical tests. She has been found to be suffering from stomach infection and is being treated for the same," Dr D S Rana Chairman (Board of Management), Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said in a medical bulletin on Monday.

Sources said she is likely to be discharged on Tuesday. The Congress chief did not attend the Union Budget presentation in Parliament on Saturday.

Sonia Gandhi had been going for medical review periodically to the United States.

In 2018, Sonia Gandhi was rushed to New Delhi in a special aircraft after she complained of breathing problems in Shima. She was first taken to Chandigarh from Shimla, and from Chandigarh to New Delhi. Sonia's doctors at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, in Chandigarh, advised her to travel to Delhi for treatment.

In August last year, Sonia Gandhi, 72, was made interim president barely 20 months after she voluntarily relinquished the top post in favour of son Rahul Gandhi who refused to continue on as Congress chief after a humiliating 2019 general election defeat.

For the Congress Working Committee (CWC) the natural choice was Sonia Gandhi, who has been the party's saviour-in-chief in times of crisis and a binding force. In her 19-year stint as Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi was hailed for deft handling of party intrigues and judgment that gave the party two consecutive wins at the Centre and several in states.

In her decision to accept the CWC's unanimous request to lead the 134-year-old party, Sonia Gandhi has displayed courage given her continuing frail health, sources said. Once considered an unlikely heir to the grand political legacy of the Gandhi family, Sonia went on to create history as the longest serving president from 1998 to 2017. In her political innings defined by a successful coalition experiment in the form of UPA, Sonia Gandhi has always credited mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi for her achievements.