The Gandhis belong to the Bania caste and seem to have been originally grocers. But for three generations, from my grandfather, they have been Prime Ministers in several Kathiawad States. Uttamchand Gandhi, alias Ota Gandhi, my grandfather, must have been a man of principle. State intrigues compelled him to leave Porbandar, where he was Diwan, […]
The evening of last week of June.In glittering Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Sonia Gandhi sat triumphantly on a front seat in the august gathering of political leaders and newly elected MPs, dignitaries and Rahul Gandhi.Her sacrifices had bore fruit again. The Congress and UPA was back in power.Manmohan Singh, the chosen one of Sonia
Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were now fully aware that terrorism emanating from Pakistan had to be stopped at all costs. It was time to talk tough and rule out no option.P. Chidambaram took over as new home minister and got down to the business of working out anti-terror measures and make sure that 26/11
Enthused by the success of NREGA, Sonia Gandhi pushed for other welfare schemes most of which were rural centric. UPA government became very serious about other welfare schemes and projects many of them were ongoing. More funds were made available for these programmes, better planning and implementation with seriousness was worked out. The administrations were
Another achievement that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and UPA government (I) must rightfully be proud of is introduction of Right to Information Law better known as RTI Act. It allows a commonman legal access to the records of the Central Government and those of states. Under the provisions of this act, any citizen may request
In 2004 Jaya Bachchan, the wife of Amitabh Bachchan had been appointed as the Chairperson of UP Film Development Board by Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh government. She was then elected to the Rajya Sabha. A congressman who lost to her filed a petition to Election Commission for Jaya Bachchan’s disqualification citing Article 102 (1) (a)
From a lovely baby, Priyanka grew into a pretty girl, young lady, happily married princess and a proud mother. She had been joy of her late father and Sonia Gandhi. Pretty Priyanka carries with her princessly aura and grace. She has been chatty and articulate.Infact when Rahul and Priyanka started to interact with party workers
Back home in Italy Sonia came from a family with political history. Because of it the family suffered badly and went through a harrowing time when the opponents came to power. That experience left a bad impression on little Sonia. She detested politics and grew up as an apolitical character. Politics was a dirty word
Manmohan Singh : An eminent economist who had served on several highly important posts in economic field including World Bank was last made finance minister of India by Narsimha Rao in his cabinet. That was perhaps the only good thing done to the country by Mr. Rao. As finance minister Dr. Singh started the historic
Sonia Gandhi faced some setbacks. In the assembly elections Congress badly lost out to BJP in M.P., Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. It lost power in all three states. But strong entrenchment of Congress in Delhi and North-Eastern states gave her hope. The defeats did not dampen the spirits of Sonia Gandhi because she knew parliamentary elections
Congress under Sitaram Kesari indulged in unprincipled politics and withdrew support to Deve Gowda who had to resign. Then, the Congress supported the installation of I.K. Gujral government on April 21, 1997.The oldest and the biggest party of the land, Indian National Congress was in turmoil. Various leaders were playing manipulative games to seize party
After the brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi the senior Congressmen naturally assumed that Sonia Gandhi would accept the leadership of the party. To them it looked a normal succession process. After Indiraji the Congressmen had made Rajiv Gandhi as their leader. Rajiv had accepted the responsibility for the sake of the nation, party and family
On the morning of 22nd May, the tragic death of Rajiv Gandhi spread all over like wild fire. The heinous act of assassination by a suicide bomber shocked and angered the people. The crowds converged on 10, Janpath. There was danger of violence breaking out in Delhi. The people looked ready to explode in anger.
On April 24, 1991 Rajiv filed his nomination papers from Amethi for the fourth time. A huge crowd was there to cheer when Rajiv Gandhi landed there with his wife Sonia Gandhi. A special plane had carried them. From airport the couple had to travel to the office of the collector to file papers which
Indian army was badly in need of a field howitzer gun. Considering the need of the army during the rule of Rajiv Gandhi the government finalised a 1.4 billion contract with A.B. Bofors of Sweden for the supply of 410 155 mm Bofors Field Howitzers to Indian Army after a careful evaluation and trials. The