Sonia to preside over Congress CEC meeting today

A week after her return from the United States after surgery, Sonia Gandhi will be back to active party work by presiding over a meeting of the Congress's Central Election Committee.

Party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said that Gandhi will be participating in Thursday's CEC meeting to finalise tickets for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled early next year.

This will be the Congress president's first public appearance after she returned to Delhi from the US, where she underwent surgery for an undisclosed illness.

Sources at 10 Janpath said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called on her to inquire about her health soon after she had returned to Delhi on September 8, after a month-long stay abroad.

Party leaders have been claiming that Gandhi has been actively looking after organisational work since her return and has made a series of appointments at various levels in different states.

Gandhi had not been meeting people since her return. Though she heads the Congress core group, she did not attend its first meeting last week which was attended by all other members, including the prime minister.