Sonia Gandhi
| Sonia Gandhi | |
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Sonia Gandhi
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| Chairperson of the National Advisory Council | |
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In office 29 March 2010 – 25 May 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Position reestablished |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
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In office 4 June 2004 – 23 March 2006 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance | |
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Assumed office 16 May 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| President of the Indian National Congress | |
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Assumed office 14 March 1998 |
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| Preceded by | Sitaram Kesri |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
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In office 19 March 1998 – 22 May 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Sharad Pawar |
| Succeeded by | L. K. Advani |
| Member of Parliament for Rae Bareli |
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Assumed office 17 May 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Satish Sharma |
| Member of Parliament for Amethi |
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In office 10 October 1999 – 17 May 2004 |
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| Preceded by | Sanjay Singh |
| Succeeded by | Rahul Gandhi |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Edvige Antonia Albina Màino 9 December 1946 Lusiana, Veneto, Italy |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Rajiv Gandhi (1969–1991; his death) |
| Relations | Nehru–Gandhi family |
| Children |
Rahul Priyanka |
| Residence | 10 Janpath, New Delhi |
| Alma mater | Bell Educational Trust |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
Sonia Gandhi (
pronunciation ; born Edvige Antonia Albina Màino, 9 December 1946) is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of the Indian National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family. After her husband's assassination in 1991, she was invited by Congress leaders to take over the government but she refused and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding from the party. She finally agreed to join politics in 1997; in 1998, she was elected President of the Congress party.
She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004. In September 2010, on being re-elected for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party. Her foreign birth has been a subject of much debate and controversy. Also controversial was her alleged friendship with Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, accused of being a middleman in the Bofors scandal. Although Sonia is the fifth foreign-born person to be leader of the Congress Party, she is the first since independence in 1947.
She was born to Stefano and Paola Maino in Contrada Màini ("Maini quarter/district"), at Lusiana, a little village 30 km from Vicenza in Veneto, Italy, where families with the family name "Màino" have been living for many generations. She spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near Turin, being raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family and attending a Catholic school. Her father, Stefano Maino, was a building mason, who owned a small construction business in Orbassano. Stefano fought against the Soviet military alongside Hitler's Wehrmacht on the eastern front in World War II, he called himself a loyal supporter of Benito Mussolini and Italy's National Fascist Party. He died in 1983. Her mother and two sisters still live around Orbassano.
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