Robert Vadra | |
|---|---|
 Vadra in 2019 | |
| Born | 18 April 1969 Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Businessperson |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | See Nehru–Gandhi family |
Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian entrepreneur, and the husband of Member of Parliament from Wayanad LS Smt. Priyanka Gandhi. [1] [2] He is the son-in-law of former Prime Minister of India Shri Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi and the brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi.
Robert Vadra was born to Rajendra and Maureen Vadra on 18 April 1969. His father's family is of Punjabi descent settled in Moradabad district, Uttar Pradesh. [3] His paternal family is originally from Sialkot in present-day Pakistan. Rajendra's father moved to India at the time of partition. [4] His mother Maureen (née McDonagh) is of Anglo Indian origin, with roots stretching back to Scotland. Rajendra was a resident of Civil Lines, Moradabad and ran a diamond trading along with brass and wood handicrafts business.[ citation needed ] Rajendra Vadra has only completed his high school education. [5]
Robert Vadra's brother Richard died by suicide and his sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001. [6] [7] His father was found dead on April 3, 2009 in City Inn, a guest house in the Yusuf Sarai area of Delhi.
In January 2002, Vadra issued a notice in print newspaper distancing himself from his father and brother as they were misusing his relationship with the Nehru–Gandhi family to make money while promising jobs and other favours. [8] Following this, Sonia Gandhi, the then Congress president also issued a notice to all Congress CMs, state unit heads and senior party members to stay away from Vadra and his family. [9]
Until 2012, while Vadra was mostly in the background, he became a target for several opposition parties after the 2012 anti-corruption movement, India against corruption made allegations against him. [10] These allegations got further politicization after several instances of Congress party spokespersons defending allegations on Vadra, stating he was a soft target. [11]
While Vadra is not into INC active politics he has been actively campaigning for his brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi and mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2019, he campaigned actively across India for several candidates. [12] Recently on his 50th birthday, when asked about his intent to join active politics, Vadra stated it would happen 2–3 years later. [13] He mulled a run in the 2024 Indian general election, but did not file nomination. [14]
Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian politician who was the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become at the age of 40 the youngest Indian prime minister. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination.
Sonia Gandhi is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. She took over as the party leader in 1998, seven years after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, her husband and a former Prime Minister of India, and remained in office until 2017 after serving for twenty-two years. She returned to the post in 2019 and remained the President for another three years.
Rahul Rajiv Gandhi is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, since June 2024. He previously represented the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala, from 2019 to 2024, and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, from 2004 to 2019. Gandhi served as the party president of the Indian National Congress from December 2017 to July 2019 and is the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress, the National Students Union of India, and a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi political family.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is an Indian politician who is serving as the member of the Lok Sabha for Wayanad, Kerala, since November 2024. A member of the Indian National Congress, she is also serving as a general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
Amethi is one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This constituency covers the entire Amethi district and was created in 1967. Like its neighbouring constituency Rae Bareli, it is considered to be a bastion of the Indian National Congress. Its first member of parliament (MP) was Vidya Dhar Bajpai of the Indian National Congress (INC) who was elected in 1967 and held his seat in the next election in 1971. In the 1977 election, Ravindra Pratap Singh of the Janata Party became its MP. Singh was defeated in 1980 by Sanjay Gandhi of the INC. Later the same year, Gandhi died in a plane crash. This forced a by election in 1981 which was won by his brother, Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi went on to represent this constituency until 1991, when he was assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The subsequent by election held the same year was won by Satish Sharma of the INC. Sharma was re-elected in 1996. Sanjaya Sinh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated Sharma in the 1998 election. The widow of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi represented this constituency from 1999 to 2004. Her son, Rahul Gandhi, was elected in 2004. He was the fourth MP from the Nehru–Gandhi family since 1980 to represent the seat. Gandhi held the seat till the 2019 election when he was defeated by a margin of 55,000 votes by the BJP's Smriti Irani. Irani was defeated in 2024 by a margin of over 1.67 lakh votes by Kishori Lal Sharma of the Indian National Congress.
Smriti Zubin Irani is an Indian politician and former actress, fashion model and television producer. She was Minister of Women and Child Development from 2019 to 2024, and also Minister of Minority Affairs from 2022 to 2024. She previously served as Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Textiles, and Minister of Information and Broadcasting. She was the youngest minister in prime minister Narendra Modi's second ministry in 2019.
Ottavio Quattrocchi was an Italian businessman who was being sought until early 2009 in India for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Bofors scandal. Quattrocchi's role in this scandal, and his proximity to Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi through his wife Sonia Gandhi, is thought to have contributed to the defeat of the Congress Party in the 1989 elections. In 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named Quattrocchi in a chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribe. The case against him was strengthened in June 2003, when Interpol revealed two bank accounts, 5A5151516M and 5A5151516L, held by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria with the BSI AG bank, London, containing Euros 3 million and $1 million, a "curiously large savings for a salaried executive". In January 2006, these frozen bank accounts were unexpectedly released by India's law ministry, apparently without the consent of the CBI which had asked for them to be frozen.
Rae Bareli is one of the 80 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is considered to be a bastion of the Indian National Congress. First Member of Parliament was Baijnath Kureel. From 1967 to 1977, the seat was held by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and from 2004 until her appointment to the Rajya Sabha in 2024, by Sonia Gandhi.
Amethi is one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This constituency covers the entire Amethi district and was created in 1967. Like its neighbouring constituency Rae Bareli, it is considered to be a bastion of the Indian National Congress. Its first member of parliament (MP) was Vidya Dhar Bajpai of the Indian National Congress (INC) who was elected in 1967 and held his seat in the next election in 1971. In the 1977 election, Ravindra Pratap Singh of the Janata Party became its MP. Singh was defeated in 1980 by Sanjay Gandhi of the INC. Later the same year, Gandhi died in a plane crash. This forced a by election in 1981 which was won by his brother, Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi went on to represent this constituency until 1991, when he was assassinated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The subsequent by election held the same year was won by Satish Sharma of the INC. Sharma was re-elected in 1996. Sanjaya Sinh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) defeated Sharma in the 1998 election. The widow of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi represented this constituency from 1999 to 2004. Her son, Rahul Gandhi, was elected in 2004. He was the fourth MP from the Nehru–Gandhi family since 1980 to represent the seat. Gandhi held the seat till the 2019 election when he was defeated by a margin of 55,000 votes by the BJP's Smriti Irani. Irani was defeated in 2024 by a margin of over 1.67 lakh votes by Kishori Lal Sharma of the Indian National Congress.
Letters from a Father to His Daughter is a collection of letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to his daughter Indira Nehru, originally published in 1929 by Allahabad Law Journal Press at Nehru's request and consisting of only the 30 letters sent in the summer of 1928 when Indira was 10 years old. He arranged a second edition in 1931 and subsequently, further reprints and editions have been published.
The Nehru–Gandhi family is an Indian political family that has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India. The involvement of the family has traditionally revolved around the Indian National Congress, as various members have traditionally led the party. Three members of the family—Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi—have served as the prime minister of India, while several others have been members of parliament (MP).
Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 20 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Kerala state in southern India.
Kanishka Singh is an Indian politician. He is a political aide to the Congress MP and former President, Rahul Gandhi.
Amethi is one of the 75 districts of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. This district is a part of Ayodhya division in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh. It covers an area of 2,329.11 km2. Gauriganj is the administrative headquarters of the district.
The Indian National Congress (INC) is one of the two major political parties in India. The prominent members of the party are the president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Priyanka Gandhi. INC took part in the elections alongside other members of the United Progressive Alliance. On the fourth anniversary of the second United Progressive Alliance government, the INC announced that its campaign for the election would be led by Prime minister Manmohan Singh, party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
Civil Lines is a residential neighbourhood in Moradabad, India. It is one of the various Civil Lines neighbourhoods developed by the British Raj for the senior officers in British India. The Moradabad Club is also situated in this neighbourhood. Though a residential neighbourhood, commercial buildings can also be seen in the area. Moradabad's first shopping mall Crossroads Mall also came up in this neighbourhood in 2006. The area also has numerous schools, hospitals and shopping areas. The income tax department building is also located in the neighbourhood.
AJL-National Herald Panchkula land grab scam case, allegedly against Bhupinder Singh Hooda currently in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED). This case pertains to Hooda's alleged role for misusing his position as then Chief Minister of Haryana to cause wrongful gains to the Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and corresponding loss to the Government of Haryana, by illegally allotting a government plot of land worth several crores rupees (billions) to AJL for INR 59 lakh. Then Chief Minister, Hooda, was also the chairman of HUDA, a government entity which re-allotted the plot to AJL in 2005 in violations of rules and against the advice of the HUDA officials. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's BJP government of Haryana transferred the case to CBI, and CBI filed the FIR in April 2016. CBI booked Hooda for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and misuse of official position by public servants. AJL, which also owns National Herald, is controlled by the Indian National Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi among others.
DLF land grab case is a case related to 50 acre land grab in 2013 in Amipur village of Haryana during the Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, for which Robert Vadra, Hooda and DLF are being investigated by the CBI. Hooda's generosity towards land sharks and builders caused huge losses to farmers and Haryana Government. Consequently, there are Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiries and court cases against him related to shady land deals. Those deals include the allotment of a highly subsidised land and change in land use license for his relatives and influential friends connected to Indian National Congress, such Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. Jitesh Vadra made illegal gains of over INR50 crore from this land deal within few months in 2008. CBI has filed an 80,000 page long chargesheet in the court related to this case and Manesar land scam case.
The 2022 Indian National Congress leadership election was an internal party election that was held to elect the next president of the Indian National Congress. A formal notification for the election was issued on 22 September 2022. The election was held on 17 October 2022 and counting of votes took place on 19 October 2022. Mallikarjun Kharge won the election amassing 7,897 votes compared to 1,072 of Shashi Tharoor.
Kishori Lal Sharma is an Indian politician who has been elected as Member of Parliament from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 Indian General elections. He is a member of Indian National Congress.
{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)