At a glance: Sonia Gandhi - from Italy's village girl to India's most powerful lady

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi, the Congress president, is undoubtedly the most powerful lady of India today. An Italian by birth, Sonia's meteoric rise from a next-door village girl of Italy to India's most powerful lady has all the ingredients of a best-selling fiction. Born as Edvige Antonia Albina Maino in 1946, Sonia hailed from the working-class strata of Italian society. Her father was a building mason. In 1964, Sonia moved to the city of Cambridge, to study English, where she met Rajiv, the man of her dreams, who was a student at the University of Cambridge. In 1965, Sonia first met Rajiv at the Varsity Restaurant where she was working as a part time waitress and Rajiv was having some fun moments with his friends. It was love at first sight for the couple. After a few hitches, Sonia and Rajiv got married in 1968 and Sonia shifted to India to her in-law's house. During those days, Rajiv was working as a pilot and unlike his mother Indira and brother Sanjay, he had shown least interest in politics. The couple had their first child, Rahul, in 1970 and their second child Priyanka was born in 1972. They were a happy family living away from the glare of media. But destiny had other plans in store for them. Soon after his younger brother Sanjay's death in a plane crash, Rajiv had no other option than to join active politics. Sonia was unhappy with this decision. Even after Rajiv's increased indulgence into politics, Sonia preferred keeping her personal life a hush-hush affair. She did not make much public appearances initially. Ironically, Sonia's fear of losing her husband, given the turbulent nature of Indian politics, came true in 1999 when Rajiv was assassinated. Sonia had her children to look after with death threats hovering over her house round the clock. Safeguarding her two children was Sonia's prime and only motive. Therefore, despite Congress party's plummeting fortunes, Sonia chose to keep away from politics. Her reluctance for joining active politics led to P.V Narasimha Rao's anointment as the Prime Minister of India in 1991 after Congress party emerged as the single largest party in general elections. By 1996, Congress govt had lost much of its sheen and the party lost general elections. The election of new party president Sitaram Kesari added to the misery of the party. Leaders like Mamta Banerjee, P. Chidambaram, Rajesh Pilot and ND Tiwari were completely against Sitaram Kesari's leadership. Congress was losing ground day by day. Senior leaders of the party finally convinced Sonia for giving up her reservations on joining politics as the party looked upon her as the only savior. Sonia Gandhi finally took the membership of Congress party in Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and was elected as party president in 1998. In 1999, three Congress leaders, Sharad Pawar, P.A Sangma and Tariq Anwar opposed Sonia Gandhi's candidature for PM post owing to her foreign origin. An embarrassed Sonia offered to resign as party president but the rank and file stood firmly behind her. Subsequently, the three leaders who had objected to her PM candidature were expelled and they formed a separate political party NCP i.e. Nationalist Congress Party.In 1999, Sonia contested Lok Sabha elections from Bellary and Amethi constituencies. She won from both the seats. From Bellary Lok Sabha seat, she defeated veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. In 2004 and 2009, she was elected from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency. To the credit of Sonia, within six years of joining active politics, she succeeded in galvanizing the party workers and to the surprise of everybody including mediapersons, Congress party dethroned the ruling BJP-led NDA alliance. She gave up the idea of becoming PM after the BJP raised a hue and cry over her foreign origin. Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj went to the extent of saying that she would get her head tonsured if Sonia becomes PM.Under these circumstances, Sonia Gandhi nominated Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of Congress-led UPA. The critics point out that India has two power centres today – first, the PMO and second, the office of Congress president.Under Sonia's leadership, Congress led UPA made a spectacular comeback in 2009.Let's have a look at some of the most interesting photographs of Sonia Gandhi's personal life and political journey: