Smt. Sonia Gandhi - mother of two children, patron of many national trusts, museums and child welfare associations and a keen student of Indian history and culture - entered public life after seven long years of public demand and persuasion by Congress workers after her husband's demise (Rajiv Gandhi laid down his life in the cause of the Nation and became the target of a vicious terrorist attack on the night of May 21, 1991). She campaigned vigorously for the Congress on the eve of the 1998 Parliamentary elections and was elected Party President in April, 1998.