Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the UPA, is a foreign lady. She was born on 9th December 1946 in Italian city Barsano. She belongs to a Roman Catholic family. She married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968. After Rajiv Gandhi’s death, she became the member of CPP in 1997. She became the President of the Congress Party in 1998. She has been elected an MP from Rai Bareilly.
Rajiv and Sonia were in Italy when Sanjay Gandhi was killed in an air crash. Indira Gandhi was shattered. Rajiv was under pressure to join politics. But Sonia was not prepared to allow Rajiv to plunge into politics. The inevitable happened in 1984 when after Indira Gandhi’s murder. Rajiv was forced to step into the shoes of his mother. After Rajiv’s death Sonia Gandhi had withdrawn herself of 10 Janpath. Personal tragedy helped steel her personality.
Soon after the 1996 election defeat, Narasimha Rao was pushed aside. Then Sita Ram Kesri took over the reign of congress party probably to preside over the last rites of India’s largest party. During this period, Congressmen implored her to lead the party. Sonia was shy at that time. Her unwillingness was also due to her by her mother-in-law, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. However she surmounted these handicaps dealing with hundreds of people in a single day. In 1998 she nursed the party back to life with victory in 16 states. In 2004 she was able to make Congress the single largest party in the Lok Sabha. By refusing to become, Prime Minister, she has raised her graph political maturity.
Now in 2009, she has again led the UPA Government to power. It shows how calculative and smart she is. She has dealt a stunning blow to the opposition. By handing over the job to Dr. Manmohan Singh she has shown that she admires decency, morality and honesty. Her priority at this time is to cleanse politics and build up India’s image as an emerging force to reckon with.