| Real
Name |
Sonia Maino |
| Date of
Birth
|
December 9, 1946 |
| Age |
57 |
| Birth Place
|
Edvige Antonia Albina
Maino, in Lusiana, a little village 50
km from Vicenza, Italy |
| Get
Citizen |
became an Indian citizen
in 1983 |
| Marital
Status |
Married with Rajiv GAndhi
in 1968 |
| Address |
10,
Janpath,
New Delhi 110011 India
PH: 91-11-23014161, 23014481
E-Mail: soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in |
| Children |
Sonia
has a son Rahul Gandhi and a daughter
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.Rahul was born on
June 19, 1970 |
| |
|
|
|
Since Rajiv's death in
Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991. The second deals with
the party's search for a leader which ended with the
former Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao only after
Sonia declined to lead the party.
Subsequent chapters deal with her
induction into Indira Gandhi's family, differences
with Menaka Gandhi, removal of Sitaram Kesari from
the party as president and her unhappiness over
delay in the probe of Rajiv's assassination. Her
speech in the U.N. conference in 2001 on AIDS was a
landmark.
There is an epilogue after 2004
Ugadi, which explains the euphoria created with the
formal entry of Rahul into politics. The book, which
narrates a lot of unknown anecdotes, fulfils a
felt-need as little is known about this leader and
the translation is competent
she was instrumental in Congress's winning an
increased number of seats in parliament and was
elected head of the party. In the 1999 elections
Gandhi won a seat in parliament but failed to lead
Congress in a return to power. When the 2004
elections resulted in a surprise victory for
Congress and its allies, she chose not to become
prime minister but remained the influential leader
of the party. She resigned from parliament in 2006
when opposition politicians sought to have her
disqualifed because she also headed the National
Advisory Council (NAC), an unsalaried government
post that nonetheless could be considered an
“office of profit” and subject her to
parliamentary disqualification. At the same time she
also resigned her NAC post. Despite critics who
object to her Italian birth, Sonia Gandhi, along
with her son, Rahul, and daughter, Priyanka, remain
immensely popular heirs to the Nehru family dynasty
She was widely expected to accept the post after
her party, the Indian National Congress Party,
prevailed over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) in parliamentary elections. The BJP
vociferously protested Gandhi's expected elevation
to prime minister, saying her foreign birth
precluded her from assuming the position. The
Congress Party instead chose former finance minister
Manmohan Singh. Gandhi is part of India's powerful
Gandhi dynasty
52, Indian politician, resigned in May from her
post as president of India's Congress Party after
fellow party leaders contested her candidacy as
prime minister because she is not a native Indian. A
week later, after an outpouring of support from her
followers, the Italian-born Gandhi withdrew her
resignation. She is the wife of slain prime
minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and the
daughter-in-law of former prime minister Indira
Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1984
|
