Sonia Gandhi to attend first meeting since surgery

Sonia Gandhi, the head of India’s ruling party, will attend on Thursday her first meeting with Congress party members since returning from undisclosed surgery in the United States, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
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 on Thursday, the first images of her since she slipped out of the country in early August for surgery.
Sonia Gandhi rules the country from behind the scenes, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh running day-to-day affairs.