Ambika Soni

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ambika Soni
Image:Ambika.jpg Ambika Soni's Official Portrait
Delhi
Constituency	Delhi

Born	13 November 1943 (1943-11-13) (age 64) Lahore, Pakistan
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Uday Soni
Children	one son
Residence	New Delhi
Religion	Christian
As of January 24, 2007 Source: [1]

Ambika Soni (born November 13, 1943) is an Indian politician. She currently serves in the Union Cabinet as the minister in charge of Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

She is a member of the Indian National Congress and is an elected Member of Parliament representing the state of Punjab in the Rajya Sabha. She was known to be a Sanjay Gandhi crony in the late 1970s, and has since been reported as being a close advisor of current Congress President, Sonia Gandhi. Soni was also assigned the difficult task of enforcing discipline in the faction-ridden Congress in Kerala.

[edit] Controversy

In the recent row over the Sethusamudram, Ambika Soni's department filed an affidavit questioning the existence of Lord Rama. Union Minister for Commerce Jairam Ramesh stated that if he were in Soni's spot, that he would resign^[1]. On September 18, 2007 Soni stated "I will not take even a minute to relinquish my post if my leaders (Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi) ask me to do so,"^[2]

[edit] Positions held

1975 - President, Indian Youth Congress
March 1976 - Elected to Rajya Sabha
1998 - President, All India Mahila Congress
1999 onwards - General Secretary, All India Congress Committee
January 2000 - Elected to Rajya Sabha (resigned w.e.f. 10 June 2004)
January 2000 - February 2004 - Member, Committee on Public Undertakings
January 2000 - February 2004 - Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation
February 2000-2001 - Member, Committee on Defence
May 2000 - June 2003 - Member, House Committee
January 2002 - December 2003 - Member, Committee on Transport and Tourism
January 2003 - February 2004 - Member, Committee on Home Affairs
July 2004 - Elected to Rajya Sabha
August 2004 - January 2006 Member, Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture
October 2004 - January 2006 Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Environment and Forests
March 2005 - January 2006 Member, Election to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
29 Jan. 2006 onwards Minister of Tourism and Culture