Robert Vadra

Robert Vadra is an Indian businessman and the husband of Priyanka Gandhi.^[1][2] He is the son-in-law of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.

Biography

Vadra was born to Rajendra and Maureen Vadhera on 18 April 1969. Rajendra Vadhera hails from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, and Maureen (née McDonagh) was of Scottish origin.^[3] Rajendra was a resident of Civil Lines, Moradabad and ran a brass and wood handicrafts business. The family is originally from Sialkot, West Punjab, and Rajendra's father moved to India at the time of partition. Robert Vadra completed his schooling from The British School, New Delhi.^[4] Vadra met Priyanka Gandhi when she was aged 13 and they married in 1997. The couple have two children: a son and a daughter.

Controversies

Vadra-DLF Controversy

In October 2012, he was accused by Arvind Kejriwal of taking an interest-free loan of 65 crores and heavy bargains on land from DLF Limited in exchange for political favors. DLF responded that it had dealt with Vadra as a private entrepreneur, that the loan was Business Advance which was given, as per practice of trade, to make payments for land purchased from Vadra, that the company did not sell him land at a throwaway price, and that no quid pro quo took place.^[5] Numerous reports have questioned veracity of balance-sheets of Vadra-owned companies, which claim to have received an overdraft of 7.94 crores from Corporation Bank. Corporation Bank has denied ever providing an overdraft facility to that amount.^[6][7]

References