Suave face of Indian politics

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 30. The senior Congress leader, Mr. Madhavrao Scindia, who died in the plane crash today, was one of the suave and articulate young faces of the Congress leadership.

Scion of the royal family of Gwalior, the 56-year-old Mr. Scindia had, during his three decades of political career, carved a niche for himself - be it in politics, government or in the field of cricket administration.

A veteran parliamentarian and deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, he began his parliamentary career with support from the Jan Sangh but drifted from it later to join the Congress.

He successfully contested his first Lok Sabha elections in 1971 as an independent with the backing of the Sangh.

Born on March 10, 1945 in Mumbai, Mr. Scindia had politics in his blood, being the son of the late Rajamata Vijayaraje Scindia, who died early this year.

He lost his father at an early age and the dominant influence in his formative years was that of his mother. It was but natural that the son fought his first electoral battle in 1971 as a Jan Sangh nominee after Vijayaraje quit the Congress and joined the Sangh.

Nine-time MP

Schooled in Gwalior, he obtained his M.A. from Oxford University before taking the plunge into electoral politics in 1971 winning the Guna Lok Sabha seat but charted a political course, starkly different from his mother's saffron path.

Mr. Scindia was also rated as a prime ministerial candidate along with leaders such as Dr. Manmohan Singh before the 1999 Lok Sabha elections in the aftermath of the controversy over the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin.

He contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999 either from Guna or Gwalior constituencies and succeeded in winning them all.

That he parted politically with his mother summed up the story of a royal family where differences often tended to go beyond politics.

A consistent winner for the Congress from Madhya Pradesh, he had the distinction of not only winning nine times as a Lok Sabha candidate but registered the proudest win of his career defeating Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee by over two lakh votes in 1984 in Gwalior.

He had switched over to Gwalior at the eleventh hour leaving Mr. Vajpayee no chance to change his constituency.

- PTI

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