Indian PM To Undergo Heart Bypass Surgery

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will undergo heart bypass surgery after doctors found blocked arteries, his office said Friday.

The 76-year-old leader - who has a history of heart problems - will be admitted to a New Delhi hospital on Friday and have the surgery Saturday, said Singh's spokeswoman Deepak Sandhu.

The decision to operate on Singh was made after he underwent tests earlier in the week after he complained of chest pains.

Sandhu said 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 in Mumbai.

A decision on whether to temporarily hand power to another government official would be taken later Friday, said Sandhu.

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 will 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 2000 and another heart procedure in 2004.