10 facts to know about Robert Vadra, the stylish son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Robert Vadra needs no introduction as he belongs to India's first political family. He is the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Husband of Priyanka Gandhi, Robert Vadra is very stylish in his appearance but unfortunately finds himself in media headlines for all wrong reasons.Robert Vadra caught media headlines during UP assembly elections when he refused to rule out joining politics. In fact, he went on to express his keen desire of entering electoral politics.Robert Vadra faced another setback when Ashok Khemka, senior IAS officer of Haryana, accused him of being involved in illegal land transfer to DLF, the real estate major.For Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of BJP in 2014 general elections, Robert Vadra became the easy punching bag. Narendra Modi would lose no opoortunity of attacking Rahul Gandhi by pointing fingers at the land deals of Robert Vadra.Now that Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister of India after he led his party to a historic majority in parliament, Robert Vadra is expected to face the heat in those allegedly dubious land deals that extend from Haryana to Rajasthan.So what is the background of Robert Vadra?Let's have a look at some of the interesting facts about Robert Vadra:1. Robert Vadra was born to Rajendra and Maureen Vadra on 18 May 1969. Robert Vadra's father Rajendra Vadra belonged to Moradabad of UP while his mother Maureen was of Scotland origin. Rajendra Vadra was a businessman and dealt in brass and wood handicraft business. Rajendra's family was originally from Pakistan and moved to India at the time of partition.Robert Vadra has two siblings- Richard and Michelle. Unfortunately, Robert's brother, sister and father are all dead now. Rober's sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001 while his brother Richard committed suicide in 2006.In 2009, Rober's father died of heart attack under mysterious circumstances. Now only Robert and his mother Maurin are left in Vadra family.2. Robert Vadra married Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi , on February 18, 1997. Robert lived in New Friends Colony of Delhi along with his mother and sister and was just like any other countrymen for the Gandhi family. Yet Priyanka was attracted towards him.The foundations of this uncommon alliance were laid six years before the couple got married. Priyanka was 20 and Robert was 22 when they first met each other in Delhi, at a party arranged by their Italian friends and a seed of liking was sowed there. The number of their meetings increased and the pair was seen dancing in Delhi's nightclub. Their love kept blossoming with every meeting and finally the day arrived when the curtain was raised from the relationship and the families were made aware of it.The Nehru-Gandhi family, who had a history of love affairs, was reluctant towards the alliance initially.But just like her grandmother, Priyanka stood by her decision and made things work out smoothly at her place. After a few discussions, the relationship received a positive nod from mother Sonia.Priyanka's family wanted to keep the marriage a hush-hush affair. The guest-list was curtailed to 150. Few very close friends were invited which included the Bachhans. The rest got cards which informed them about the marriage seeking blessings.Even small kids were avoided, citing the reason that kids will be difficult to handle. The 15-month old daughter of Robert's brother was the only kid at the wedding. The couple was blessed with two children, Raihan and Miraya. 3. Vadra's marriage to Priyanka had surprised many not only because of the layers of secrecy that have surrounded the family, but also because many did not see much in common between the two. A friend of Priyanka had once described Robert Vadra as a ‘puppy.'In the first edition of the book Sonia Gandhi, the book written by noted journalist Rashid Kidwai, it is mentioned that five years after the Robert-Priyanka marriage, Sonia had to caution party leaders not to have anything to do with ‘close relatives of Robert Vadra'. Sonia Gandhi's directive came after Vadra had issued a public notice severing ties with his family.That notice, drafted by Arun Bhardwaj, son of former Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj read: ‘It has been brought to the notice of my client that some persons including Rajindra Vadra (Robert's father, now dead) resident of C-7, Amar Colony and Richard Vadra, resident of Basant Vihar Colony, Civil Lines, Moradabad, UP, are misrepresenting to the public that they are working on behalf of my client and allegedly promising jobs and other favours in return for money. Even though Rajindra Vadra and Richard Vadra are relatives of my client they have no access to my client. Public at large is hereby put to notice that my client has not authorised Rajindra Vadra and Richard Vadra and anyone else to work for him or to use his name in any manner and make such misrepresentations to anybody. Such misrepresentations are without the knowledge and consent of my client.'4. Robert Vadra is not highly educated. He is believed to have studied up to Std 10 only. According to some reports, Robert Vadra maintains that he took the O and A levels at the British School which qualifies him as a college degree holder. However, it remains a fact that he is not even a graduate technically.Robert Vadra's educational qualification may appear surprising for some people but the fact is that Nehru-Gandhi family is not known for having members with higher educational qualification after Jawahar Lal Nehru.A closer look at the educational qualifications of Nehru-Gandhi family reveals that Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi , Sonia Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi never went for higher studies.5. Rober t Vadra is a big fan of dance and music. It is said that he likes western pop music and has keen interest in western dance as well.It is also said that he was a frequent visitor at oasis discotheque once upon a time. In discotheques, he was spotted with Priyanka Vadra as well.According to some reports, Robert does not mind confessing his love for dance although he does not fail to remind people that he never formally learnt how to dance. It is said that Robert Vadra is so passionate about dance that there is a story about him dancing non-stop at his niece. 6. Robert Vadra is a fitness freak. Vadra is also very proud of his fitness and speaking to a reporter at a Page 3 event, he once gloated about how a designer friend had wanted him to walk the ramp, which he had refused.Robert Vadra gleefully informs people that he had worked hard on his body and lost 20 kg in five years. He also used to run a futness bulletin on his FB page. Vadra would post bulletins of his physical exploits and often brag about how he was pushing the limits of fitness by doing that extra few kilometres of running or cycling. He also used to take questions on his FB page.Robert Vadra is said to be close to Rahul Gandhi, who calls him ‘Rob'. One reason for their bonding is the fact that the two share a passion for grueling workouts at the gym and for superbikes. 7. Apart from his interest in dance, music and fitness, Robert Vadra is also very fond of bikes.There was a time, around 1997, when Robert Vadra used to travel in Maruti Gypsy. He was seen as riding this Maruti Gypsy to travel to his office.Now he is said to be in possession of a number of superbikes and fast cars. The Vadra garage includes vehicles made by Mercedes, BMW and Land Rover. Hr also owns a Jaguar.Robert Vadra is extremely fond of his 1800 cc Suzuki Intruder, a Rs 15 lakh cruise bike that he rides at least once a week—often to Delhi Golf Club—when he is in town. 8. Robert Vadra is said to be nurturing political ambition that is not liked by Congress workers because they are more keen on Priyanka Vadra taking the plunge in electoral politics.Robert Vadra, however, has not lost hopes. And somehow he has got the feeling that Congress workers want him to contest elections.In an interview, Robert Vadra told a leading publication that he had been under party pressure to contest the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Sultanpur, the constituency adjoining his mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi's Raebareli and brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi's Amethi.“There was a huge demand for me to stand from Sultanpur but I was clear that it was not my place. I was being recognised only because of the family.” Robert Vadra told the newspaper. 9. Robert Vadra used to run a a costume jewellery export firm called Artex in Delhi before he married Priyanka Gandhi. He had set up this business after distancing himself from his father Rajindra Vadra's brass export business.After migrating to India from Pakistan during partition, his forefathers had set up a brass business in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. Robert's grandfather Hukumat Rai Vadhera ran a sports goods business in undivided Punjab but moved to Karnataka immediately after Partition and set up Mysore Electroplating.His family initially had ‘Vadhera' as the surname. From metal coating, the family moved into metal exports, setting up base in Moradabad, where they took the surname ‘Vadra', and as their business did well, they got themselves a house in Delhi.10. Robert Vadra's image suffered a major setback when the prestigious ‘Wall Street Journal' published a report that alleged that he amassed huge wealth through dubious land deals in Haryana, Rajasthan and other places using the clout of Naehru-Gandhi family during the decade after Congress came to power in 2004.The Wall Street Journal found that during the decade Mr. Vadra's in-laws have held sway in New Delhi, the 44-year-old with a high-school education and no experience in property development amassed a large real-estate portfolio. Based on a review of company filings, land records and interviews with property experts, the Journal calculated that through 2012, Mr. Vadra sold more than $12 million of property, and as of then he still held real estate valued at about $42 million.The journal further said that tt wasn't clear whether Mr. Vadra's companies have sold any more real estate since then because company filings for the past two years aren't available on government websites.The WSJ report was used by Narendra Modi to attack Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in election campaign and he used to refer to it as ‘Vadra model' of accumulating illegal wealth.