CHERPU: Late Congress leader PP Madhavan was a confidante of the Gandhi family. What earned him the rare trust of the first family? Undoubtedly his rare acumen to guess political happenings. PP Madhavan had presaged about former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan going to BJP and shared the information with KC Venugopal, general secretary of the organization. This helped Congress make the last efforts to stop Chavan from jumping ship. However, the efforts were not sufficient to stop the congress leader from embracing saffron colour.

In Himachal Pradesh, Madahavan had prescient knowledge of some MLAs planning to defect from the Congress camp. Leaders say that Madhavan had a special ability to know critical information beforehand. While working as an official in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Madhavan earned the rare trust of the then PM Indira Gandhi. The move to Congress soon helped him make strong bonds with veterans A K Antony and Karunakaran.

When Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, Madhavan was appointed to the personnel department of the office. In 1998, when Sonia Gandhi entered active politics, Madhavan found a place in her personnel staff. Even during their nascent days in politics, ‘Madhavan uncle’ was omnipresent across 10 Janpath to guide Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. 16 years ago, Rahul and Priyanka had come to the Thrissur Kaustubham auditorium to attend Madhavan's son Deepak's wedding.

Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi returned to Delhi only after blessing the bride and groom and having the traditional Kerala sadhya. It is not usual for the Gandhi family to take up such invitations. This shows how big a sway Madhavan had with the first family.