An economy growing at 7 percent per year, can and must find the resources to improve the lives of its millions of poor.

As the Prime Minister's wife Sonia Gandhi acted as his official hostess and also accompanied him on a number of state visits. In 2004 and 2009 Sonia Gandhi was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. [citation needed]
In an effort to revive the party's sagging fortunes Sonia Gandhi joined the Congress Party as a primary member in the Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and became party leader in 1998.

After her husband's assassination in 1991 Sonia Gandhi was invited by Congress leaders to take over the government; but Sonia Gandhi refused and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding from the party. Her foreign birth has been a subject of much debate and controversy. In September 2010 on being re-elected for the fourth time Sonia Gandhi became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party.