India’s Sonia Gandhi discharged from hospital

NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi, the leader of India’s ruling Congress Party and the country’s most powerful politician, has been discharged from a hospital after falling ill during a debate in Parliament, the health minister said Tuesday.

Gandhi underwent a series of medical tests during the five hours she spent in the hospital late Monday and was then allowed to return home, Ghulam Nabi Azad told journalists.

Gandhi, 67, had been suffering from fever for two days, but still decided to deliver Monday’s parliamentary speech in support of a landmark bill that proposes to provide cheaper grain to more than 800 million across the country.

Gandhi felt unwell during the 9-hour long debate on the food security bill in the lower house of Parliament and was escorted to a hospital by her son Rahul and other Congress party colleagues.

“She is perfectly fine. There is nothing to worry,” Azad said. Doctors have advised her to rest for a few days, he said.

Gandhi is the Italian-born widow of slain former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. After his death, she entered politics reluctantly but has led the Congress party to successive election triumphs in 2004 and 2009.