Sonia Gandhi in hospital with fever

Gandhi, who intervened hours earlier in parliament to urge lawmakers to pass a flagship scheme offering subsidised food for the poor, was taken to the leading AIIMS hospital in the capital.

“Madam had a fever,” leading Congress parliamentarian Renuka Chowdhury told the Zee News channel, adding that “she needs some rest”.

The health of Gandhi, 66, was last in the news in August 2011 when she went to the United States for surgery for an undisclosed illness, reportedly cancer.

Her health and private life are jealously guarded by her advisors.

Other television reports citing unnamed sources said Gandhi had complained of chest pains and had been admitted as a precaution.

Chowdhury said that Gandhi had been “working under tremendous stress, otherwise she is alright”.

She was filmed leaving parliament in the company of her son who escorted her to AIIMS, reports said.