Prime Minister's heart surgery successful

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh successfully underwent heart bypass surgery on Saturday, an official of his Congress party told reporters.

"We must thank the surgeons, the team of doctors, "the governing Congress party's spokesman Veerappa Moily said in a brief statement.

Moily gave no other details on the surgery. A press briefing with more details is expected later Saturday, according to Deepak Sandhu, the prime minister's spokeswoman.

The procedure, which lasted several hours, began early Saturday morning.

A team of 11 doctors was involved in the surgery, Vaishnav said. The 76-year-old leader, who has a history of heart problems, complained of chest pains earlier in the week and underwent a series of tests.

Sandhu had said Friday that Singh would undergo "coronary artery bypass graft surgery" performed by a combined team of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the country's top state-run hospital, and the Asian Heart Institute.

Singh has been Prime Minister since 2004. He had been expected to again be the Congress party's candidate for Prime Minister in elections that must be held before May. It was not immediately clear if his medical problems would affect those plans.

Singh, the country's first Prime Minister from the Sikh faith, had bypass surgery in England in 1990 and another heart procedure in 2004.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee will take charge of the finance ministry, which was looked after by Singh and will chair any meetings of India's Cabinet while the Prime Minister recovers from surgery, Sandhu said.