Sonia Gandhi, born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino <1 >on 9 December 1946, is an Indian politician, the President of the Indian National Congress and the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. She is the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha, and the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party. She was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in the year 2004 <2 > and currently ranks 6th <3 >. She was also named among the Time 100 most influential people in the world for the years 2007 <4 > and 2008 <5 >. She was returned to Parliament by a margin of over 400,000 votes in the by-election for Rae Bareilly after the office of profit controversy. <6 >
Italy
Born to Stefano and Paola Maino in Lusiana, a little village 50 km from Vicenza, Italy, she spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near Turin being raised in a Roman Catholic family and attending a Catholic school. Her father, a building contractor, died in 1983. <7 > Her mother and two sisters still live around Orbassano. <8 >
UK
In 1964, she went to study English at The Bell Educational Trust's language school in the city of Cambridge. While enrolled in this certificate course she met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled at the time in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge.
India
Sonia and Rajiv were married in 1969, after which she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. <9 > The couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi (born 1970) and Priyanka Gandhi (born 1972). Despite the family's heavy involvement in politics (her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, was Prime Minister), Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement - Rajiv worked as an airline pilot, and Sonia took care of her family. <10 >When Indira was ousted from office in 1977 and when Rajiv entered politics in 1982, Sonia continued to focus on her family and avoided all contact with public. <11 > She acquired Indian citizenship in 1983 <12 > after 14 years of her marriage. <13 >
Wife of the Prime Minister
Sonia Gandhi's involvement with Indian public life began after the assassination of her mother-in-law and her husband's election as Prime Minister. As the Prime Minister's wife she acted as his official hostess and also accompanied him on a number of state visits. In 1984, she actively campaigned against her sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi who was running against Rajiv in Amethi. At the end of Rajiv Gandhi's five years in office the Bofors Scandal broke, and Ottavio Quattrocchi an Italian business man believed to be involved, was said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Minister's official residence. <14 >
Congress President
Following her husband's assassination on May 21, 1991, there was tremendous pressure on her to accept the leadership of the party. However, Sonia refused and was vehement in her denunciation of politics and politicians. She is said to have stated that she would have rather seen her children beg than enter into the maelstrom of Indian political life. <15 > After her refusal, the party settled on the choice of P V Narasimha Rao who became leader and subsequently Prime Minister. Over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle and it lost the 1996 elections. Several senior leaders such as Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot, Mamata Banerjee, G K Moopanar, P.Chidambaram, Jayanthi Natarajan were in open revolt against the incumbent President Sitaram Kesri and quit the party, splitting the Congress into many factions.
In an effort to revive the party's sagging fortunes, she joined the Congress Party as a primary member in the Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and became party leader in 1998 <16 >.
Within 62 days of joining of a primary member, she became the party president - a record for any Indian politician.
She contested Loksabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka in 1999 and Rai Bareli, Uttar Pradesh in 2004. She won both the seats. In Bellary she defeated veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj.
She was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.
Despite her party not having a majority, she made the claim to the President that she had the numbers to form the government. However, the final numbers fell short of the halfway mark of 272. <17 > When the BJP-led NDA formed a government under Atal Behari Vajpayee, she took on the office of the Leader of Opposition. As Leader of Opposition she called a no-confidence motion against the NDA government led by Vajpayee in 2003.
She holds a record of serving as Congress President for consecutive 10 years.
Gandhi has published two books about her late husband, Rajiv and Rajiv's World, and edited two volumes of letters exchanged between Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi from 1922 to 1964, Freedom's Daughter and Two Alone, Two Together.
Wife of the Prime Minister, Congress President, Leader of the Opposition, UPA Chairperson
