Close friend to many Gandhis: The story of Ram Murti Shukla, election in-charge of late Sanjay Gandhi

Ram Murti Shukla, the election in-charge of late Sanjay Gandhi when he registered his first win from Amethi in 1980, today runs a petrol pump here, “gifted” by the Gandhi family.

The 72-year-old says it was a close call and Amethi had almost lost out in the race to be a Gandhi asset.

“In 1975, Indira Gandhi got a survey done to find out from which constituency shall she field Sanjay Gandhi,” he says.

After the survey “Indiraji” had to choose between Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh and Amethi. “Indiraji was very sharp. She chose Amethi over Chhindwara because Amethi was poverty stricken and more underdeveloped as compared to Chhindwara. She realised that if she brought even a little development in Amethi, she would ensure Sanjay’s victory,” remembers Shukla.

He proudly shares that he and his wife, Mayank Madhuri Shukla, needed no appointment or identity card to meet the Gandhis at their Delhi residence. Introduced first to Sanjay Gandhi in 1976 by his political mentor, the then MLA Rana Rananjay Singh of UP, Shukla became Sanjay’s trusted soldier. Shukla then ran a newspaper, Amethi Mail.

“I met Rajiv Gandhiji at Sanjayji’s cremation,” says Shukla, adding that he was consoled by Indira herself.

Shukla fondly remembers April 29, 1979, the day Indira came to UP to address a public meeting. “The protocol demands that the state Congress chief would welcome the All India Congress chief to the stage, but an exception was made that day,” and UP state chief Mohsina Kidwai was asked to let Shukla address the audience, he recalls.

His 42-year-old son, Arvind Shukla, who died last August was the first journalist in the country to have interviewed Rahul Gandhi, claims Shukla.

He boasts of another distinction of being the first individual in UP to get a landline phone. “The number was 22 and all the top-notch bureaucrats and police officers used to come to my residence to seek my advice on transfers and other issues because they knew that I was close to Sanjayji”