For the second consecutive day on Friday, several Indian journalists went to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre on 68th Street and York Avenue in Manhattan, New York, where Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has reportedly undergone a surgery.
To their chagrin, all they could see was the usual hospital activity, with no extra police presence, let alone Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi.
Where is Sonia Gandhi then? Is the Congress chief in Sloan-Kettering, one of the world's most renowned cancer hospitals?
"Due to federal patient privacy regulations, we are unable to provide any information as to whether an individual is a patient in our facility. I'm sorry but I'm unable to answer your questions," was the reply to inquiries from the department of public affairs at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre.
The result paved the way for all types of rumours, some of which found their way into newspapers and news portals in India. But what is the source for all that? No one would tell.
It was a news portal's blog in India that first reported that Gandhi, 64, was admitted at Sloan Kettering. But there has been no confirmation from hospital authorities, Congress leaders or diplomatic sources.
Media in India also reported that she was being treated by noted cancer specialist and oncologist Dr Nori Dattatreyudu, who currently serves as professor and executive vice chairman of the radiation oncology department at The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City hospital. That hospital is not far from Sloan Kettering. Nori worked at Sloan Kettering earlier.
After many calls to all his numbers, Dr Nori responded and informed India Abroad on Thursday that he was on vacation in Iceland. But his relations in the US later in the evening claimed that he had been called back urgently and was returning to New York.
When called Friday, he said he wanted to neither confirm nor deny anything. Asked if it meant that he was part of the team that takes care of Gandhi, he said he had no answer.
Dr Surinder Malhotra, president of the Indian National Overseas Congress, and George Abraham, general secretary, could not shed more light on the matter. Dr Malhotra suggested that the press and the people should respect the privacy of leaders, especially when they fall sick.
Entrepreneur Sam Pitroda, considered to be close to the Gandhi family, too could not say much or opted to keep silent.
One source suggested she is either in Johns Hopkins in Baltimore or George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC.
Journalists in the ethnic and mainstream media, have been calling everyone with possible connections to the Congress Party or the Gandhi family in attempts to get some authentic information. To no avail.
Meanwhile, amidst the speculations on Sonia's surgery, several people from New Jersey, US, belonging to the Indian Congress Party arrived outside the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre to wish her speedy recovery.
However, the hospital security did not allow them to enter the hospital. The group then held prayers, conducted by Hindu and Sikh priests, outside the cancer centre.
Later, they offered prayers at the hospital chapel across the street.
The Indian Congress Party, USA is an organisation formed to support and unite Congress supporters in the US.
Image: Members of the Indian Congress Party, USA outside the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre
Photograph: Paresh Gandhi/Rediff.com
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