Forbes: The 100 Most Powerful Women #21 Sonia Gandhi

President, Indian National Congress Party

Gandhi, the Italian-born leader of India's most powerful political party, the Indian National Congress Party, has by now assumed the role of elder stateswoman. Although she
remains firmly at the head of the country's ruling party, a rising star, known by the single name Mayawati, is challenging Gandhi's position as the country's most powerful woman. Mayawati has aligned herself with the nationalist Hindu BJP party and joined its members in vociferously opposing Gandhi's party's historic agreement with the U.S. on nuclear cooperation.