Hyderabad: Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rewarded P. Shiv Shanker for defending her in the court cases she faced in the post-Emergency period by naming him the Congress candidate for the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency in the 1979 bypoll and the 1980 general elections.
He won both times. He was appointed Union law minister in 1980. He also held the energy, petroleum, chemicals and fertilisers portfolios.
After Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 he was one of the four ministers of her ministry who was picked in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet.
Shiv Shanker lost to a TD candidate in Medak Lok Sabha in 1984. Despite the loss, Rajiv Gandhi inducted him into his Cabinet and sent him to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
Shiv Shanker was given major portfolios — external affairs, commerce and, later, HRD. He was also deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Shiv Shanker resigned from Parliament during P.V. Narasimha Rao’s tenure following the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Narasimha Rao later made him Governor of Sikkim and later of Kerala.
A staunch Telanganaite, he contested from the Tenali Lok Sabha in 1998 and defeated sitting MP, actor Sharada.
After Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the Congress, he felt ignored and he resigned from the Congress in 2004.
