Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi is an Indian politician of Italian descent. A member of the Nehru-Gandhi family by way of her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, she is a former president of the Indian National Congress.

She took over as the party leader in 1998, seven years after her husband's assassination, and remained in office for a record nineteen years, a period that was characterized by the party's renewed adherence to the centre-left position on the Indian political spectrum. 

Sonia Maino was born on December 9, 1946 to Stefano and Paola Maino in small village near Vicenza, Italy, Gandhi was raised in a Roman Catholic Christian family. 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.