HYDERABAD: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said neither poverty nor backwardness can stop anyone who sets a goal and works sincerely to achieve it, citing former Union minister P Shiv Shankar as the best example. He noted that Shiv Shankar rose to become the No. 2 in the country under former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
He was speaking at Ravindra Bharathi on Sunday at a meeting to mark Shiv Shankar’s 96th birth anniversary. The event, organised by his son Dr Punjala Vinay Kumar, chairman of the TPCC Samvidhan Bachao Programme Committee, drew ministers, legislators, bureaucrats, activists and admirers. The Congress leadership resolved to install a statue of the former Union minister, who held key portfolios including Law, Petroleum and External Affairs, at a prominent location.
Bhatti recalled how Shiv Shankar, engaged in small jobs to support his family, went to Amritsar to pursue a law degree and overcame hardships through education. “Nothing is impossible,” he said, staying late into the night to deliver his tribute.
Almost the entire Cabinet attended, including Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, IT Minister D Sridhar Babu, Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao and Animal Husbandry Minister Vakiti Srihari, apart from TPCC chief B Mahesh Kumar Goud, MLAs Aadi Srinivas and Makkan Singh Raj Thakur, MLC Addanki Dayakar and former governor Bandaru Dattatreya. Many speakers said the recent passage of Bills providing 42% reservations for BCs was a true tribute to Shiv Shankar, who had fought the Congress high command to implement the Mandal Commission report.
Prabhakar described him as someone who rose purely on merit. “His life tells every student leader that one can reach the highest peaks regardless of their starting point,” he said, recalling his closeness to Indira Gandhi.
Former IAS officer Padmanabhaiah, who worked with him for a decade, praised his judges’ transfer policy as a lasting reform, and credited him with decentralising LPG distribution, tackling insurgencies in Punjab and Assam and safeguarding national unity.
Uttam and Sridhar hailed him as a fearless advocate for the BCs who brought sweeping changes to the judiciary. They pledged to support the memorial statue and carry forward his ideals in the legislature.
Dr Vinay expressed gratitude for the values he inherited from his father. “If life gave me another chance, I would still choose to be his son,” he said, vowing to continue his mission.
Government Advisor K Kesava Rao remembered Shiv Shankar as a mentor who never wavered in his fight for BC rights, and believed they should unite as a single political force, unbroken by caste divisions.