Sonia the longest serving Congress president

Ten years ago, as Italian-born widow of former PM Rajiv Gandhi became the head of the Congress party, her critics and sceptics talked about her inexperience (she was replacing a veteran, Sitaram Kesri). The media curiously discussed her future — as the head of the most dominant political party in the country — after having spent most years since Rajiv’s assassination in 1991 in relative seclusion, vehemently denouncing politics. Six years later, in 2004, she was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. In 2007, she featured in Time’s list of 100 most influential people in the world. On March 14, Sonia will have the unique distinction of becoming the longest serving Congress president. Even Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi did not have the privilege of holding the post for 10 years at a stretch.

List of Congress presidents and their tenure from 1929 to 1998

Jawaharlal Nehru 1929 & 30

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel 1931

Madan Mohan Malaviya 1932-33

Nellie Sengupta 1933

Rajendra Prasad 1934 & 35

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 1936-37

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose 1938-39

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1940-46

Acharya J B Kripalani 1947

Pattabhi Sitaraimayya 1948 & 49

Purushottam Das Tandon 1950

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 1951-54

U N Dhebar 1955-59

Indira Gandhi 1959

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy 1960-63

K. Kamaraj 1964-67

S. Nijalingappa 1968-69

Jagjivan Ram 1970-71

Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma 1972-74

Dev Kant Baruah 1975-77

Indira Gandhi 1978-84

Rajiv Gandhi 1985 -91

P. V. Narasimha Rao 1992 -96

Sitaram Kesri 1997-98