Sonia Gandhi suddenly left India for America. It caused panic. The Congress spokesmen were not forthcoming. It was the Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital that broke the news that the Indian leader was admitted there for surgery as she had cancer.

THE AAM aadmi was puzzled on Sonia Gandhi’s sudden departure to foreign shores for surgery. Apparently for treatment of some serious ailment that could not be cured in Bharat, despite top-notch physicians and surgeons working in top class hospitals and research centres for medicine and surgery.

Janardan Dwivedi added unwarranted secrecy to the ailment saying that the nature of ailment and the destination of the patient could not be made public due to security reasons. Manish, the firebrand spokesman of Congress party thickened the secrecy veil saying that even public persons are entitled to privacy.

VEIL LIFTED

Sonia Gandhi was admitted to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York, USA, for an urgent surgery. She was diagnosed with cancer. The situation could be handled by an experienced surgeon alone. Dr Dattatreya, an NRI who enjoys the reputation of being an experienced and effective surgeon, operated upon Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, August 5, 2011, and had the satisfaction of operating successfully. India heaved a sigh of relief. Sonia is out of the Intensive Care Unit and is now convalescing in her hospital room. Rahul and Priyanka are with her for providing comfort and moral support.

The medical situation did not deteriorate suddenly. Alarm bells rang because her ailment had been a perfectly guarded secret for over a year. She had been undergoing treatment in London for over a year and had made many trips to the British capital. Since diagnosis would have caused the alarm bell to ring much earlier and also upset the apple cart, both in the government and the Congress party, her medical condition was kept a closely guarded secret. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi was prepared politically to shoulder responsibility as a party leader, but not yet as govt leader. He is doing precisely that in his mother's absence.

CARETAKER GROUP

Sonia had constituted a core group of four confidants to manage the Congress party during her absence of two to three weeks. Looking at the seriousness of the illness, the period of her absence may be longer. It all depends on her pace of post-operation recovery.

Many questions have been asked and doubts raised by people at large about the composition of the core group formed to run the show in the party. The core group comprises of Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and Janardan Dwivedi. It is surmised that young Rahul will be in the driving seat and the other three will provide him active support and give suggestions since they are experienced persons in the political arena. AK Antony is a Kerala Christian and enjoys the reputation of being honest. Moreover, he has no ambition of adorning the PM chair and is therefore, not a threat to the Gandhi dynasty in power. Ahmed Patel is not only the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi but also is reported to be an expert wheeler dealer. The unkindest cut was his being linked to Hassan Ali, the stud owner of Pune and a money launderer.

However, he is the closest confidant of Sonia Gandhi. Being a Gujarati Muslim, he lies low in state politics and is no threat to Rahul's ascendancy at the national level. Janardan Dwivedy is
a media buff and has been loyal to the first family of Bharat all along. As is known nationally, loyalty to Gandhis is an asset to go up the ladder of progress as competence or efficiency takes a back seat.

Pranab Mukherjee's absence from the core group is difficult to explain as he is the main trouble shooter of the Congress party. To say that he is busy running the finance ministry and could not handle both the govt and the party is a lame excuse. Antony is equally busy as Raksha Mantri but he is prominent member of the core group. Perhaps his being a Christian has helped him climb up the ladder.

We hope and pray that Sonia Gandhi is back in Bharat early and is fighting fit to mount frontal attacks on myriad problems facing the party and the government. It is the Corruption and Black money stashed in foreign banks that may engage her attention after she is restored to health.