New Delhi, Aug 27: Sonia Gandhi is doing 'fine' after being discharged from Delhi's AIIMS hospital, where she was taken last night just before a crucial vote on the Food Security Bill, a landmark welfare scheme she had championed.
Hours after she returned home on Tuesday, the Congress president received wishes from across the political spectrum.
"Glad to know that Soniaji's health is fine. Wishing her best of health for the future," tweeted Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi this morning.
Mrs Gandhi, 66, was taken straight from Parliament to AIIMS after she complained of chest pain and fever. She was in the hospital for nearly five hours.
"She was very tense about the Food Bill, and that she had to miss the voting. She was relieved when we told her it has been passed. Now she is fine. All the tests say everything is fine," said Union minister Kumari Selja.
Mrs Gandhi left Parliament at 8:15 pm escorted by her son and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. She appeared to stumble as she walked down Parliament steps. Mrs Gandhi held Kumari Selja's hand and recovered her balance.
According to doctors, she was initially admitted to the Cardio-Neuro centre and later shifted to the ICU as a precautionary measure. Later she left for home in her own car at 1:30 am.
The Lok Sabha passed the Food Security Bill after nearly nine hours of debate and soon after senior leaders went to visit Mrs Gandhi at the hospital, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Union Ministers Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit also visited the hospital.
The police cordoned off a 500-metre stretch leading to the Intensive Care Unit to allow a steady stream of VIPs.
Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters: "Madam had some medicine for a headache, because of which she felt uneasy."
In a rare speech in Parliament on Monday, Mrs Gandhi had urged parties to unanimously support a "chance to make history" by clearing the Food Security Bill, the world's largest scheme to fight hunger that legally entitles 67 per cent of India to cheap food.
Speculation over the Congress president's health peaked in 2011, when she left India for a surgery in the United States. But neither her family nor the ruling party disclosed anything about her condition at the time.
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