UPA chairperson and Congress president Smt. Sonia Gandhi who underwent surgery for an un-disclosed ailment is recovering in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a US hospital. The Congress party issued a brief statement that 64-year-old Sonia underwent a surgery on August 4 and the surgeon has indicated that the surgery has been successful.

Congress General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi in a statement said that at present Sonia is in ICU and fast recovering. However, the statement did not disclose what was the surgery and the hospital and the country where it was performed. Children Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and son-in-law Robert Vadra are with Sonia in US. Sonia's family has requested that her privacy be respected.

Sonia had decided that in her absence a group comprising Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and Dwivedi will look after party affairs. Significance is attached to the fact that Rahul will form part of the committee that has only one senior minister of the government and two leaders from the organisation. The Congress President had been not keeping well in the past and because of her illness, she could not attend meetings of the Congress Core Group as also that of the Parliamentary Strategy Committee.