Biography of sonia gandhi interview

Shadow of Death. Defying the Party. Preserving Rajivs Legacy. The Nuclear Issue. Generation Next. Akbar Road. My Inner Voice. The Last Post. Sangma, the controversies she has had to face, and he unravels the true story of her dealings with leaders such as Sitaram Kesri, P. Narasimha Rao, Arjun Singh and others. Sonia also gives a fascinating insight into the inner world of Congress politics and the frustrations and jealousies that ensue as various leaders, powerful in their own right, vie for the honour of being part of the inner circle.

I watched, logged and translated hours of television footage in the library of TV Today. The Outlook Group editor-in-chief gave me access to his library. The more than interviews I conducted yielded fascinating material, only some of which is in the book. I now have a vast exclusive oral archive on Sonia Gandhi systematically logged, transcribed, and stored in alphabetical order.

The background and off- the-record interviews are extremely valuable to me. Share Via. HT Image.

Biography of sonia gandhi interview

See Less. Whatsapp Twitter Facebook Linkedin. Sign In. Edit Profile. Your Subscription Plan. Renew Subscription. Manage Subscription. Saved Articles. My Reads. Sign out. World News. After Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in and Sonia Gandhi refused [ 41 ] to succeed him as the Congress president and prime minister, the party settled on the choice of P.

Narasimha Rao who subsequently became Prime Minister after winning elections that year. Over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle and it lost the elections. MoopanarP. Chidambaram and Jayanthi Natarajan were in open revolt against incumbent President Sitaram Kesri and many of whom 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 and became party leader in In Maythree senior leaders of the party Sharad PawarP. Sangmaand Tariq Anwar challenged her right to try to become India's Prime Minister because of her foreign origins.

In response, she offered to resign as party leader, resulting in an outpouring of support and the expulsion from the party of the three rebels who went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party. Within 62 days of joining as a primary member, she was offered the party President post which she accepted. She won both seats but chose to represent Amethi.

She was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13th Lok Sabha in In the election, she was re-elected by a ,vote margin over her nearest rival, in the Rae Bareli. On 16 May, she was unanimously chosen to lead a coalition government of 15 parties supported by the left, and it was subsequently named as United Progressive Alliance UPA. The defeated NDA protested once again about her 'foreign origin' and senior NDA leader Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head and "sleep on the ground", among other things, should Sonia become prime minister.

They pointed, in particular, to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act ofwhich they claimed implied 'reciprocity'. This was contested by others [ 36 ] and eventually the suits were dismissed by the Supreme Court of India. A few days after the election, Gandhi recommended Manmohan Singh as her choice as prime minister, which the party leaders accepted.

Her supporters compared it to the old Indian tradition of renunciation[ 57 ] while her opponents attacked it as a political stunt. On 23 MarchGandhi announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha and also as chairperson of the National Advisory Council under the office-of-profit controversy and the speculation that the government was planning to bring an ordinance to exempt the post of chairperson of National Advisory Council from the purview of office of profit.

She addressed the United Nations on 2 OctoberMahatma Gandhi 's birth anniversary which is observed as the international day of non-violence after a UN resolution passed on 15 July InGandhi became the first person to serve as Congress President for 15 years consecutively. In the general electionshe held her seat in Rae Bareli. When Rahul Gandhi was expected to take over as Congress president, Communist Party of India Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury picked Sonia over Rahul, calling her the "glue that binds the opposition" [ 74 ] during an interview November Rahul took over as the 49th Congress president on 16 December Gandhi returned to active politics for the Indian National Congress' campaign for the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election.

Having stayed away from campaigning for elections sinceGandhi addressed a rally at Bijapurwhich comprised five legislative assembly constituencies; while Congress emerged as the second largest party in the election with 78 seats behind the BJP, the former won four or the five assembly seats from Bijapur. Rahul Gandhi, taking responsibility for Congress party's second consecutive loss in general elections held inresigned from the post of President on 25 May.

Following the resignation, party leaders began deliberations for a suitable candidate to replace him. The Congress Working Committee met on 10 August to take a final call on the matter and passed a resolution asking Sonia Gandhi to take over as interim president until a consensus candidate could be picked. Following her appointment, Gandhi undertook a restructuring of the Congress' state units and appointed Kumari Selja and Eknath Gaikwad as the presidents of the party's Haryana and Mumbai units.

Several other changes were also made in the party's organisational units in states slated for elections including Haryana, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand. She asked for the deployment of an adequate number of security forces. In FebruarySonia Gandhi opted out of the Indian general election citing health and age-related issues. During the nomination filing, she was accompanied by Rahul GandhiAshok Gehlot and biography of sonia gandhi interview senior members of the party.

Sonia is the widow of Rajiv Gandhielder son of Indira Gandhi. This was an almost six-fold increase since her declaration in the last election in ; party officials attributed this to a switch from book value to market value for asset valuation. Gandhi's mother, Paola Maino, died due to an illness at her home in Italy on 27 Augustat the age of about Gandhi was seen as the most powerful politician of India from to[ 92 ] and variously listed among the most powerful people and women listings by magazines.

InSonia Gandhi was ranked 21st among world's most powerful and 9th most powerful woman by Forbes Magazine. Inshe was named the third most powerful woman in the world by the same magazine [ 95 ] and was ranked 6th in exclusive list in InGandhi was ranked as the ninth most powerful person on the planet by Forbes magazine. Sonia was also named among the Time most influential people in the world for [ ] and Contents move to sidebar hide.

Article Talk. Read View source View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. Indian politician born For the scientist, see Sonia Gandhi scientist. Rajiv Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi son Priyanka Gandhi Vadra daughter. Rajiv Gandhi's premiership — Political debut and Congress presidency — Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha — Electoral success and NAC chairmanship — Leaving active politics and Rajya Sabha —present.

The Indian Express. Retrieved 15 December Retrieved 19 December Hindustan Times.