NEW DELHI, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday wished main Opposition Congress leader Sonia Gandhi a long and healthy life on her 71st birthday.
"Birthday greetings to Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi. I pray for her long life and good health," Modi tweeted.
Gandhi, the widow of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who became the head of Congress party in 1998, is likely to hand over the reins to his son Rahul Gandhi next week.
She is of late not keeping well and had to be hospitalized on a number of occasions. In 2011, Gandhi went to the United States to receive surgery for an undisclosed medical condition.
Gandhi is the head of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which has governed India for most of the time since independence in 1947.
But her party lost the 2014 general elections to Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
