Congress veteran S C Shukla passes away

Raipur, Feb 14 (UNI) Congress veteran and former Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh Shyama Charan Shukla died here today following a prolonged illness.

He was 82 and is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

Thrice Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shukla was hospitalised in New Delhi few months ago with prostrate and cardiac problems and later developed respiratory complications.

He was on ventilator support for the last few weeks.

A fortnight ago, he was shifted to his hometown Raipur in an airambulance and was undergoing treatment at a local hospital. He died at around 0400 hours this morning. His last rites will be performed at the Mahadev Ghat crematorium at 1600 hours, family members said.

A spokesman of the state Congress said his body would be taken to Rajim, an assembly constituency which he had represented for many years. Later, his body will be kept at the state Congress headquarters to enable party workers to pay tribes to the departed leader.

Shukla, son of first Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla, is one of the most prominent Congress leaders from the state. He was elected to the Madhya Pradesh assembly in 1957 and was Chief minister thrice in 1969, 1975 and in 1989.

Former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla is his younger brother and his son Amitesh Shukla was a minister in the Ajit Jogi government, which came to power after Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000.

Born on February 27, 1925, Shukla studied at Banaras Hindu University in Uttar Pradesh and Nagpur University in Maharashtra and he was a lawyer and businessman by profession.

Shukla was a member of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from 1957 to 1977. He was the leader of the opposition in the assembly from 1967 to 1969.

He became Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in 1969 and continued till 1972. His second tenure as Chief Minister was during the Emergency -- 1975 to 1977. Later for almost a decade, he remained out of the Congress party till he was re-admitted to the Congress party in the late 1980s. Subsequently, he had to take up the responsibility of Chief Minister once again in 1989 and continued till 1990.

From 1990 to 1999, he continued as a member of the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly. Later, he was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha from Mahasamund, now in Chhattisgarh, in 1999. However, he lost the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from Raipur constituency.

UNI