Congress veteran, Kerala exgovernor Shiv Shankar dies

HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader, former Union minister and ex-governor of Sikkim and Kerala, Punjala Shiv Shankar, died at his residence in Jubilee Hills here on Monday after a brief illness. He was 87 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Born on August 10, 1929, at Mamidipalli in Ranga Reddy district, Shiv Shankar did his Bachelors in Law from Osmania University and practised as an advocate for a long time before being elevated as Andhra Pradesh high court judge in 1974.

Later, he entered politics through Congress and got elected to Lok Sabha from Secunderabad in 1978. He got re-elected to Lok Sabha in 1980 and became a Union minister in the Indira Gandhi cabinet, taking care of the law and justice portfolio. In 1985, Shiv Shankar got elected to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and completed two terms till 1993. He was inducted into the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet.