Family has domina­ted Indian politi­cs since indepe­ndence­NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was Monday named as the new leader of the main opposition Congress party, which has ruled the country for much of its independent history. Here are five key things to know about India’s most famous political family:The Nehru-Gandhi family has dominated Indian politics since independence from Britain in 1947, when Jawaharlal Nehru became the country’s first prime minister. The party’s outgoing president, Rajiv’s Italian-born widow Sonia Gandhi, has said nothing publicly about her intention to stand down after 19 years. The Nehru-Gandhi family’s decades-long dominance of Indian politics began to diminish in the late 1990s with the fortunes of the Congress party. After Rajiv’s death, the party was not led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family for several years, but in 1998, Sonia Gandhi agreed to take over.

Source: The Express Tribune December 11, 2017 14:48 UTC