Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 – 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the son of Indira Gandhi. He was a member of the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime he was widely expected to succeed his mother as head of the Indian National Congress, but following his early death in a plane crash his elder brother Rajiv became their mother’s political heir, and succeeded her as Prime Minister of India after her assassination. His wife Maneka Gandhi and son Varun Gandhi are politicians in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sanjay stood for his first election to the Indian parliament following the lifting of the Emergency in March 1977. This election saw the crushing defeat of not only Sanjay in his constituency of Amethi but also the wiping out of Indira’s Congress party throughout Northern India. However, Sanjay won Amethi for the Congress(I) in the next general election held in January 1980.
Just one month before his death, he was appointed secretary general of the Congress Party in May 1980.
