Sonia flies out for surgery, Team Rahul to head party
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has gone abroad to undergo an operation, nominating her son Rahul Gandhi and three others to effectively head the party during the two or three weeks she will be away.The Congress did not say where Sonia Gandhi, 64, was being treated, though party sources said she was in the US. It did not say when she left India. Congress chief spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said she would undergo surgery on Friday or Saturday, contradicting his own earlier statement that the operation had already been performed. He said that Gandhi had formed a four-member group, including general secretary Rahul Gandhi, to look after party affairs in her absence. Besides Gandhi, the others in the group are long-time loyalists Defence Minister A.K. Antony, her political secretary Ahmed Patel and Dwivedi. “Sonia Gandhi has been recently diagnosed with a medical condition that requires surgery. On advice from her doctors, she has travelled abroad and is likely to be away for two to three weeks,” Dwivedi said here. (IANS)
3 killed in Air Force plane crash
LUCKNOW: A Jaguar fighter plane of Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed 50 miles south-east of Gorakhpur in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday morning. At least three persons including the pilot died in the accident. The plane crashed at Ferozpur Dhilai village under Madhubani block of Mau district. According to police, the pilot of the plane and two others including a woman working in the field died. Senior officers have rushed to the spot. The plane had taken off from an air base in Gorakhpur district. According to police, the plane has been identified as Jaguar. Soon after the accident, an IAF helicopter arrived and lifted the body of the pilot. (Agencies)