JERUSALEM, Dec. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Shortly after returning to his Jerusalem residence, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him on his victory in Monday's Likud primaries, local newspaper Ha'aretz said on its on-line edition on Tuesday.

    The vote count of Likud's primaries stood at 98 percent on Tuesday morning, with results of Netanyahu's lead stood at 44.6 percent to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's 33 percent. Sharon also thanked Netanyahu, his arch rival in the March general elections, for his get-well wishes.

    Sharon was rushed to hospital late Sunday for a minor stroke and was discharged from Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem before Tuesday noon on a stable condition.

    Netanyahu, a former prime minister, resigned as finance minister in August in protest against Sharon's disengagement plan, under which Israel completed the withdrawal of soldiers and some 8,500 settlers from all Gaza in mid-September, after 38 years of occupation.

    The Likud, which Sharon bolted last month to form the centrist Kadima party, will face an uphill battle in the March 28 general elections, since opinion polls projected Sharon's Kadima as a front-runner if elections were held now, with the Labor coming a second and Likud a distant third. Enditem