Indian National Congress-I (also known as the Congress Party and abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Womesh Chandra Bonerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, Allan Octavian Hume, William Wedderburn, Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Wacha, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants in its struggle against British rule in India. After independence in 1947, it became the nation's dominant political party, challenged for leadership only in more recent decades. In the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009), 145 members (out of 545), the largest contingent amongst all parties, serve in the house. The party is currently the chief member of the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition. It is the only party to get more than 100 million votes in the past two general elections (1999, 2004).

After Indira Gandhi, her son Rajiv Gandhi, took over as Congress leader and led the party to victory with a large majority in the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. It governed from 1984-9 and then was defeated in the 1989 general election. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated by the LTTE during the course of the election campaign in 1991. Following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, P.V. Narasimha Rao succeeded him as Congress leader and became prime minister.

The 1990s was a period of prolonged crisis for the Congress. After gradually losing political influence the party asked the Rajiv Gandhi's widow, Sonia, to accept the position of Congress President. She refused at the time, and the Congress stuck with Narasimha Rao. Rao dramatically changed the party's traditionally socialist policies and introduced major economic reforms and liberalization, with the help of then Finance minister (and future Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh. Nonetheless, his involvement in the bribery of members of parliament(first found guilty in 2000 and on appeal was cleared of charges in 2002) was a major issue which led to the downfall of the Congress in 1996, and subsequently his fall out with other leaders in his own party and eventual exit from politics[?]. For all its follies, this Congress government is significant, in the sense, it provided a stable central government that brought back the economy on track.

Former treasurer Sitaram Kesri took over the reins of the party and oversaw the Congress support to the United Front governments that ran from 1996 - 1998. During his tenure, several key leaders broke away from the party, and serious infighting broke out among those left. In 1998, Sonia Gandhi finally accepted the post of Congress President, in a move that may have saved the party from extinction.

After her election as party leader, a section of the party, which objected to the choice, broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party. The use of "Congress (I)" continues to denote the party run by Indira Gandhi's successors. There have been repeated attempts by the Indian nationalist groups (such as the BJP) to discredit Sonia Gandhi's leadership on the basis of her foreign origin - she is Italian-born.

Although the Congress expedited the downfall of the NDA government in 1999 by promising an alternative, Ms. Gandhi's decision was followed by fresh elections and the Congress party's worst-ever tally in the lower house. The party spent the interval period forging alliances and overseeing changes in the state and central organizations to revive the party. It has had many electoral successes which led up to the formation of a Congress-led government in 2004.

Formation of present Government of India

In the 2004 general elections, the Congress alliance won the largest number of seats and got an assurance of support from the Left Front upsetting the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance, which was variously forecast to win outright victory or at least emerge as the largest alliance. Shortly thereafter, Sonia Gandhi was nominated by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to be the next Prime Minister. But in what was described as the dropping of a political bombshell, Sonia Gandhi refused to take the position based on her "inner voice". She backed eminent economist, former Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post of Prime Minister, and he was sworn-in as Prime Minister on 22 May 2004.

Indian Prime Ministers from the Congress Party

• Jawaharlal Nehru (1947 - 1964)
• Gulzarilal Nanda (May - June1964, January 1966)
• Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964 - 1966)
• Indira Gandhi (1966 - 1977, 1980 - 1984)
• Rajiv Gandhi (1984 - 1989)
• P.V. Narasimha Rao (1991 - 1996)
• Manmohan Singh (2004 - present)

List of presidents of the Party

Name of President	Life Span	Year of Presidency	Place of Conference
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee	December 29, 1844- 1906	1885	Bombay
Dadabhai Naoroji	September 4, 1825- 1917	1886	Calcutta
Badaruddin Taiyabji	October 10, 1844- 1906	1887	Madras
George Yule	1829- 1892	1888	Allahabad
Sir William Wedderburn	1838- 1918	1889	Bombay
Sir Pherozeshah Mehta	August 4, 1845- 1915	1890	Calcutta
P. Ananda Charlu	August 1843- 1908	1891	Nagpur
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee	December 29, 1844- 1906	1892	Allahabad
Dadabhai Naoroji	September 4, 1848- 1925	1893	Lahore
Alfred Webb	1834- 1908	1894	Madras
Surendranath Banerjea	November 10, 1848- 1925	1895	Poona
Rahimtulla M. Sayani	April 5, 1847- 1902	1896	Calcutta
Sir C. Sankaran Nair	July 11, 1857- 1934	1897	Amraoti
Ananda Mohan Bose	September 23, 1847- 1906	1898	Madras
Romesh Chunder Dutt	August 13, 1848- 1909	1899	Lucknow
Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar	December 2, 1855- 1923	1900	Lahore
Sir Dinshaw Edulji Wacha	August 2, 1844- 1936	1901	Calcutta
Surendranath Banerjea	November 10, 1825- 1917	1902	Ahmedabad
Lalmohan Ghosh	1848- 1909	1903	Madras
Sir Henry Cotton	1845- 1915	1904	Mumbai
Gopal Krishna Gokhale	May 9, 1866- 1915	1905	Benares
Dadabhai Naoroji	September 4, 1825- 1917	1906	Calcutta
Rashbihari Ghosh	December 23, 1845- 1921	1907	Surat
Rashbihari Ghosh	December 23, 1845- 1921	1908	Madras
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya	December 25, 1861- 1946	1909	Lahore
Sir William Wedderburn	1838- 1918	1910	Allahabad
Pandit Bishan Narayan Dar	1864- 1916	1911	Calcutta
Rao Bahadur Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar	1857- 1921	1912	Bankipur
Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur	?- 1919	1913	Karachi
Bhupendra Nath Bose	1859- 1924	1914	Madras
Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha	March 1863- 1928	1915	Mumbai
Ambica Charan Mazumdar	1850- 1922	1916	Lucknow
Annie Besant	October 1, 1847- 1933	1917	Calcutta
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya	December 25, 1861- 1946	1918	Delhi
Syed Hasan Imam	August 31, 1871- 1933	1918	Mumbai (Special Session)
Pandit Motilal Nehru	May 6, 1861- February 6, 1931	1919	Amritsar
Lala Lajpat Rai	January 28, 1865- November 17, 1928	1920	Calcutta (Special Session)
C. Vijayaraghavachariar	1852- April 19, 1944	1920	Nagpur
Hakim Ajmal Khan	1863- December 29, 1927	1921	Ahmedabad
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das	November 5, 1870- June 16, 1925	1922	Gaya
Maulana Mohammad Ali	December 10, 1878- January 4, 1931	1923	Kakinada
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	1888- February 22, 1958	1923	Delhi (Special Session)
Mahatma Gandhi	October 2, 1869- January 30, 1948	1924	Belgaum
Sarojini Naidu	February 13, 1879- March 2, 1949	1925	Kanpur
S. Srinivasa Iyengar	September 11, 1874- May 19, 1941	1926	Gauhati
Dr. M A Ansari	December 25, 1880- May 10, 1936	1927	Madras
Pandit Motilal Nehru	May 6, 1861- February 6, 1931	1928	Calcutta
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru	November 14, 1889- May 27, 1964	1929 & 30	Lahore
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	October 31, 1875- December 15, 1950	1931	Karachi
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya	December 25, 1861- 1946	1932	Delhi
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya	December 25, 1861- 1946	1933	Calcutta
Nellie Sengupta	1886- 1973	1933	Calcutta
Dr. Rajendra Prasad	December 3, 1884- February 28, 1963	1934 & 35	Mumbai
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru	November 14, 1889- May 27, 1964	1936	Lucknow
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru	November 14, 1889- May 27, 1964	1936& 37	Faizpur
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose	January 23, 1897- August 18, 1945?	1938	Haripura
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose	January 23, 1897- August 18, 1945?	1939	Tripuri
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad	1888- February 22, 1958	1940-46	Ramgarh
Acharya J.B. Kripalani	1888- March 19, 1982	1947	Delhi
Dr Pattabhi Sitaraimayya	December 24, 1880- December 17, 1959	1948 & 49	Jaipur
Purushottam Das Tandon	August 1, 1882- July 1, 1961	1950	Nasik
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru	November 14, 1889- May 27, 1964	1951 & 52	New Delhi
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru	November 14, 1889- May 27, 1964	1953	Hyderabad
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru	November 14, 1889- May 27, 1964	1954	Calcutta
U N Dhebar	September 21, 1905- 1977	1955	Avadi
U N Dhebar	September 21, 1905- 1977	1956	Amritsar
U N Dhebar	September 21, 1905- 1977	1957	Indore
U N Dhebar	September 21, 1905- 1977	1958	Gauhati
U N Dhebar	September 21, 1905- 1977	1959	Nagpur
Indira Gandhi	November 19, 1917- October 31, 1984	1959	New Delhi
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	May 19, 1913- June 1, 1996	1960	Bangalore
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	May 19, 1913- June 1, 1996	1961	Bhavnagar
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy	May 19, 1913- June 1, 1996	1962 & 63	Patna
K. Kamaraj	July 15, 1903- October 2, 1975	1964	Bhubaneswar
K. Kamaraj	July 15, 1903- October 2, 1975	1965	Durgapur
K. Kamaraj	July 15, 1903- October 2, 1975	1966 & 67	Jaipur
S. Nijalingappa	December 10, 1902- August 9, 2000	1968	Hyderabad
S. Nijalingappa	December 10, 1902- August 9, 2000	1969	Faridabad
Jagjivan Ram	April 5, 1908- July 6, 1986	1970 & 71	Mumbai
Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma	August 19, 1918- December 26, 1999	1972- 74	Calcutta
Dev Kant Baruah	February 22, 1914- 1996	1975- 77	Chandigarh
Indira Gandhi	November 19, 1917- October 31, 1984	1978- 83	New Delhi
Indira Gandhi	November 19, 1917- October 31, 1984	1983 -84	Calcutta
Rajiv Gandhi	August 20, 1944- May 21, 1991	1985 -91	Mumbai
P. V. Narasimha Rao	June 28, 1921- December 23, 2004	1992 -96	Tirupati
Sitaram Kesri	November 1919- October 24, 2000	1997 -98	Calcutta
Sonia Gandhi	December 9, 1946-	1998-present