Sonia back home after checkup

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had been abroad for medical checkup, returned home late Thursday night accompanied by her son Rahul Gandhi. The 70-year-old leader is doing fine, according to sources.

After the drubbing in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh elections, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, along with vicepresident Rahul Gandhi, returned back to Delhi early on Friday morning. Mrs Gandhi had gone abroad for her medical checkup prior to election results, which were declared on March 11. She has not been keeping well for sometime now and Rahul has been at the helm of affairs. In the recently concluded Assembly elections in five states, Ms Gandhi did not even campaign.

After the election results and the swearing in of Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi also travelled abroad to be with his mother. The two leaders have returned to the country amid a growing clamour for structural changes within the party after its debacle in the crucial Uttar Pradesh polls. A section of leaders have also called for elevating Rahul to the post of party president.

Some leaders have openly said that some responsibility of the defeat also lies with Rahul. Interestingly, Rahul himself had said before going abroad that structural changes are a need of the hour in the Congress. The change in AICC organisation is long pending also there is a view within the Congress that several state units also require a complete revamp.

Sources say that changes in the Congress are imminent and can come into place as soon as early next month. However, in the Congress, drastic measures are seldom taken by the high command. The main problem which the party is facing is that how to balance the new and the old guard. There are arguments for and against on both sides so a final call will have to be taken by the party president.