Indian prime minister undergoes surgery

Manmohan Singh is undergoes heart bypass surgery, raising questions over the coming general elections.

In this July 1, 2006 file photo Manmohan Singh speaks during a press conference in Nagpur.

India's 76-year-old prime minister Manmohan Singh underwent heart bypass surgery today, raising questions about his political future with general elections looming. Doctors decided to perform the surgery, which could take up to eight hours, after Mr Singh complained of chest pains earlier in the week, the Press Trust of India said. "Prime minister Manmohan Singh was wheeled into the operation theatre at 5.30am. The operation finally began at 7.15am and is expected to last for 7-8 hours," Dr Sudhir Vaishnav of Mumbai's Asian Heart Institute said.

The operation was being carried out at the premier state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and doctors said the prime minister was likely to need a month of rest afterwards. A team of 11 doctors from the Asian Heart Institute flew from India's financial capital Mumbai for the operation, said Dr Vaishnav. A hospital source earlier told doctors were "looking at the removal of two blockages. The rest of the regime will be decided when the surgery is on."

Mr Singh, a diabetic who walks regularly, underwent heart bypass surgery in Britain in 1990 and angioplasty in 2003. He has largely been in good health since he was sworn in as prime minister in May 2004 but recently underwent prostate surgery and has also had cataract treatment. India is due to hold general elections before May, and the ruling Congress Party has so far said the quietly spoken economist and politician will head the party into the polls.

Congress had earlier this week dismissed concerns that Mr Singh's health would interfere with its election campaign, and said the prime minister was "absolutely fine". But there has been widespread speculation that party chief Sonia Gandhi has been lining up her son, Rahul Gandhi, heir to India's powerful Gandhi dynasty, as the country's next prime minister. *AFP