Congress President Sonia Gandhi turned 66 on Friday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wishing her over phone and party leaders and workers thronging her official residence to celebrate the ocassion.

Special prayers were offered at a mobile temple outside Gandhi’s 10, Janpath residence and enthusiastic Congress workers cut huge cakes and distributed it to all gathered there.

Singh wished Gandhi over phone and sent a bouquet to her.

A number of party leaders including Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Reddy, several Union Ministers, including External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, MPs K Keshava Rao, K S Rao, Sudarshan Natchiappan and Jammu and Kashmir state Congress chief Saifuddin Soz were among those who greeted Gandhi.

A group of party workers had installed a Ganesha idol on a mini-truck and were seen offering prayers and wishing a long and healthy life for Gandhi.

Gandhi had appealed to party workers not to take a lot of trouble and spend money to come all the way to Delhi from far off places to greet her.

Despite the appeal, party workers gathered at her residence since early morning beating drums and taking out processions to celebrate her birthday.

She was greeted by several leaders and members in the Lok Sabha. Before the House re-assembled at 1200 hrs after an adjournment, several leaders including L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Anant Kumar, Harin Pathak (all BJP) walked up to her to extend her good wishes.

Others who greeted the UPA chairperson were Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M), Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), Darasingh Chauhan (BSP), Supriya Sule (NCP), Deepa Dasmunshi and Minakshi Natrajan (both Cong) and several DMK members.