Sonia Gandhi is back, hale and hearty: Congress

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who had been abroad for medical check-up, returned home late last night accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi at a time when there is growing clamour for structural changes in the party.

The 70-year-old leader is doing fine, according to party sources.

She had left the country earlier this month for an undisclosed destination, which the Congress said was for a "routine medical check-up".

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had left to join her on March 16, soon after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The Congress President had for the first time in many years not campaigned for her party in the just concluded assembly elections.

The two leaders have returned to the country amid growing clamour for structural changes within the party after its debacle in the crucial Uttar Pradesh polls. A section of leaders has also been demanding Rahul's elevation as Congress president.

"Both of them are back. As far as Sonia Gandhi is concerned, she is hale and hearty," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters when asked about their return.

Asked about when the much talked about organizational changes would be made since the two are back, Singhvi told an AICC briefing "it is definitely on the cards but you do not have to put a timer switch to it like a race timer, they have come back."

As to whether there could be a brainstorming session to bring about such organisational changes, he said, "I think you should be fair enough to give us all a chance to breathe, especially those who have returned yesterday."

Sonia has not been keeping well for quite some time and has entrusted all party work to Rahul for a few months now.

Party sources had said that Sonia had gone abroad for a "routine" medical check-up but did not disclose her destination. However, there was speculation that she was in the United States where she had been treated for an undisclosed ailment earlier.

Sonia has been mostly out of action after she was taken ill during a roadshow in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency, on August 2 last and was hospitalised.

When asked about the appointment of a new Kerala Congress chief following the recent resignation of V M Sudheeran, Singhvi said, "I do not think that two weeks is such an alarming period of time you are making it sound."

"I can assure you that we had a very active Kerala PCC for all these years and you will have no less an active Kerala PCC soon. Just give it a reasonable time," he said.