Shukla's consuming passion

Vidya Charan Shukla was filled with the all-consuming passion to become the Chhattisgarh chief minister. This has been an unfulfilled, burning ambition. His father Ravi Shankar Shukla was the first Madhya Pradesh chief minister. His elder brother Shyama Charan Shukla thrice became Madhya Pradesh chief minister. V C Shukla was the only one left out. After Madhya Pradesh was bifurcated and Chhattisgarh was carved out, V C Shukla lost his sense of political balance and joined the NCP. It was too late by the time he realised that this was a non-starter party, as the NCP only helped splitting the Congress vote and benefitted the BJP to come to power in Chhattisgarh in 2003. Grapevine has it that for the last five years, he has been approaching every Congress leader to lobby for his projection as the Congress chief ministerial candidate. Given his seniority, he claimed he can bring in cohesion and unity in the party. V C Shukla approached AICC general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh B K Hariprasad and insisted that the best way to bring in unity in the Congress is to give him the leadership. Since Shukla happens to be a Brahmin, the Congress rooted for a tribal. Initially it was Ajit Jogi and after he was discredited, it was Mahendra Karma. So Shukla remained a loser.