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Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi is the president of the Indian National Congress and a three-time MP from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and UPA chairperson and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul entered politics in 2004 when he contested from Amethi for the first time. Amethi had previously been represented by his mother and father.
 
Rahul Gandhi became the vice-president of the Congress party in January 2013 and succeeded his mother as the party’s president in December 2017.
 
Rahul Gandhi completed his graduation from Rollins College in Florida, USA, after brief stints at New Delhi’s St Stephen’s College and the US’ Harvard University. He then did an MPhil from Trinity College, Cambridge, and then worked as a Management Consultant with Monitor Group in London for three years before returning to India, where he started his own technology outsourcing company Backops Services Pvt Ltd.
 
In 2004, he entered active politics and has been a member of Parliament since. As the general secretary of the Congress party, he had earlier been entrusted with the responsibility of the students and youth wings of the party.
 
During the second term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by the Congress, Rahul Gandhi was in the news for trashing an Ordinance brought by the Manmohan Singh government for convicted legislators. Rahul Gandhi was also attacked politically in this tenure and suffered a major loss of public perception.
 
During the term of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, Gandhi became more active in politics and has been known for his sharp political attacks on the government. From opposing the Land Acquisition Bill brought in by the Modi government to attacking the government as a ‘suit boot ki sarkar’ his interventions have been visible and significant.
 
He has also attacked the government over lack of jobs, the Rafale scandal and farm distress during these five years.
 
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi will contest from two Lok Sabha constituencies — Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and Wayanad in Kerala. His choice of a constituency in south India has come under attack from the ruling BJP, with PM Modi alleging Gandhi had been forced to contest from a seat that had Hindus in minority, as there was widespread Hindu anger against Gandhi’s party, the Congress.
 
He is the most important leader of the principal Opposition party and a potential prime ministerial candidate in 2019 for the United Progressive Alliance.

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