Congress core group meeting cancelled due to Sonia Gandhi's illness

Congress core group which meets regularly on Friday evenings, could not hold its meeting today as party chief Sonia Gandhi is unwell.

As Gandhi had been running fever, she could not attend the Republic Day parade on Rajpath earlier this week and stayed at home the same day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the evening.

The UPA chairperson was also absent from Tuesday's official dinner for visiting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Congress chief has also cancelled her appointments for the last two days.

Gandhi heads the core group which has top party leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel as its members.

The group strategises on the issues facing the party and the government.