Sonia Gandhi back in action

Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi chaired a state-level party meeting in Uttar Pradesh Thursday, sending a clear message that she is not relinquishing her post or retiring from public life, despite her recent surgery at New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Speculation has been rife about Gandhi's future, as her family and fellow party members refused to disclose the nature and seriousness of her illness.

The Times of India called her engagement and energy during the meeting "a reassuring sign for the party which often looked adrift during the month or so when she was abroad for treatment of an undisclosed medical ailment."

The paper quoted one of the party general secretaries as saying, "Congress chief otherwise looked fine, but as per doctor's advice it will take her some time to resume all the work she earlier did. It will take her a little more time to fully recover."