Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the Congress party, which has governed India during most of its post-Independence decades. She was born in Italy, and educated at Cambridge University, where she met Rajiv Gandhi, who was then the son of prime minister Indira Gandhi. The two married in 1968.
After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, during campaigning for that year’s general elections, Sonia Gandhi initially stayed away from politics, but in 1998, she was chosen as the president of the Congress party. Under her leadership, in 2004, a Congress-led coalition came to power at the Centre. She famously declined to be prime minister — her foreign birth had become a politically controversial issue — and instead chose the economist Manmohan Singh. She was then named the chairperson of the coalition, which was called the United Progressive Alliance or the UPA.
Sonia Gandhi won her first Lok Sabha election in 1999, representing Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, a family stronghold. From 2004, she has represented Rae Bareli as an MP in the Lok Sabha. In 2024, she announced she was contesting elections from the Rajya Sabha, the indirectly elected house of Parliament, signalling her stepping back from electoral politics.
1. Maharashtra will have a government which will have, as partners, political parties that have been political adversaries since 1989. Basic question is whether we need an election law amendment which will compel political parties to declare their intention to form post-poll alliance with their opponents. 2. In this context, let us not overlook what happened in Karnataka. In Karnataka Assembly election held in April/May 2018, not one party could secure a majority. The largest party was BJP but Karnataka’s Congress leaders joined hands and formed an alliance government with JD(S) to deny power to BJP. However, many Congress MLAs were unhappy with alliance with JD(S), as their perception was that Congress party was denied a share of power as per party’s strength in the Karnataka Assembly. Alliance government of JD(S) and Congress has subsequently lost majority and was defeated, leaving a trail of bitterness. In this connection let us not forget what JD(S) boss said recently. JD(S) boss H D Deve Gouda has declared that his party will shun both BJP & Congress in next Assembly election in Karnataka whenever it takes place. 3. Developments in coming months both in Karnataka and Maharashtra will be worth watching. 4. In the meanwhile, citizen-voters must demand implementation of election law reforms so that political parties are compelled to provide details, in their respective pre-election manifestos, of likely post-poll alliances which each party would wish to enter into. This amendment to election law, I suppose, will greatly reduce of scope for power brokers to manipulate and will also reduce scope for use of black money.
BJP hasn’t done anything which the Congress hasn’t already done. Democracy was subverted when 39th amendment to constitution was made to keep election of PM outside the scope of judicial review. Democracy was subverted when 42nd amendment was made to molest the constitution. Democracy was subverted when infamous Emergency was imposed to safeguard Indira Gandhi’s position as PM. Congress governments imposed presidential rules 88 times during congress regime. It is like a street walker preaching the virtues of celibacy.