Sonia Gandhi was born in 1946 near Turin, Italy, to a working-class family, and spent her childhood in that region. Her connection with India developed when she met Rajiv Gandhi, the elder son of Indira Gandhi, at a language school in Cambridge, England. They were married in 1968, and Sonia settled in India with her husband. Rajiv Gandhi worked as a pilot in Indian Airlines, and only his brother Sanjay Gandhi’s death in 1980, in a plane crash, changed the course of his life. Sonia Gandhi was seldom seen in public, and led a very "private life"; indeed, the 1984 assassination of her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, did comparatively little to make her more visible. Some people thought that, in emulation of some supposed timeless Indian tradition, Sonia Gandhi preferred to remain by the sidelines, content in her roles as wife, mother, and -- to some degree -- official hostess. Her aversion to politics has been described by Tariq Ali, who recounts that Sonia is said to have stated that she would have rather seen her children beg than enter into the maelstrom of Indian political life. Married into India's best known family of Nehru-Gandhi in 1968, the 52-year-old Sonia Gandhi became a primary member of the Congress less than a year ago before the Calcutta Congress Plenary Session in August 1997.

Tariq Ali, author of the Nehru's and the Gandhi's, an "Indian dynasty", says at one point Sonia had told a friend that she would rather have her children beg in the streets than Rajiv going to politics. Eventually, Rajiv resigned from Indian Airlines to join politics after Sanjay's death in 1980. It was a joint decision arrived at after long talks with Sonia, Ali quotes Rajiv as saying.

Positions Held: March 1998 onwards -  President, Indian National Congress Chairperson, Congress (I) Parliamentary Party (CPP). 1999 -  Elected to 13th Lok Sabha. 1999-2000 : Member, General Purposes Committee. Chairperson of (i) Rajiv Gandhi Foundation; (ii) Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust; (iii) Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund; (iv) Nehru Trust for Cambridge University; (v) Kamala Nehru Memorial Society and Hospital; (vi) Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; (vii) Indian Council for Child Welfare Trust; (viii) Swaraj Bhawan Trust; Patron, Round Square (International Group of Schools), United Kingdom.