Sonia Gandhi undergoes surgery at NY's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

New Delhi - 04 August 2011: Congress presidentSonia Gandhion Thursday underwent surgery at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for an undisclosed ailment which will keep her out ofIndiafor a month.

Congress general secretaryJanardhan Dwivedisaid that in Sonia Gandhi's absence, she had appointed a four-member group to handle the day-to-day running of the party -- including her son Rahul Gandhi, who is tipped as a future prime minister.

The Congress party's announcement inNew Delhithat its 64-year-old leader has been diagnosed for surgery and that Rahul, defence minister AK Antony, her political aide Ahmed Patel and Dwivedi will run the affairs of the party caught the country by total surprise because there was no inkling that she had travelled abroad.

Tehelka news magazine had reported on microblogging site Twitter that Sonia Gandhi 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. Renowned oncologist Dr Dattatreyudu Nori, director of the cancer centre at theNew YorkHospital Medical Center of Queens, was said to be attending on Sonia Gandhi.

Italian-born Gandhi is the widow of assassinated formerpremierRajiv Gandhiand widely seen as India's most powerful politician, with her key power-broking position as Congress president.

In January 2009, current Prime MinisterManmohan Singhunderwent heart bypass surgery at theAll India Institute of Medical Sciencesin New Delhi.

The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has ruled India for most of is post-independence history, with three members of the family becoming Prime Minister.

Sonia Gandhi holds total sway within the Congress and is credited with crafting the strategies that gave the party back-to-back general election victories in 2004 and 2009.

She will miss the start of a crucial session of parliament for the scandal-plagued government which intends to introduce draft laws on a range of key areas, including corruption, land acquisition and food security.

Gandhi's absence for the opening of the new session on Monday was noted in the Indian media but explained by an apparent "viral infection" she was said to be suffering from.

The mother of two arrived in India as the shy bride of Rajiv Gandhi in her early 20s, and was transformed into a sari-clad Indian who now speaks fluent Hindi.

Her years in the Gandhi household, when her autocratic mother-in-law Indira -- slain in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards -- was premier, gave her an intimate insight into India's turbulent politics.

Rajiv Gandhi became premier in 1984 and was assassinated in 1991 by a suicide bomber.

Sonia Gandhi, who has described herself as "a reluctant politician," took charge of the Congress in 1998, becoming the fifth member of the powerful Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to serve as party chief.

Although she was hailed as the architect of the 2004 election victory, she eschewed calls to become Prime Minister and handed the post to the current incumbent Singh, partly due to concerns about a political backlash over her foreign origins.

TheBharatiya Janata Party, now the main opposition party, had once referred to her as a "foreign doll."

source: Agencies