Raebareli, July 16 -- qazi.ahmad@htlive.com

He was in his early 20s when Ram Sewak Chaudhary travelled for the first time outside his hamlet of Rae Bareli. It was the late 1960s, and Chaudhary was in Delhi with his friends. The group was walking past the PM's then residence on Safdarjung Road when they noticed a clot of farmers waiting to meet then PM Indira Gandhi. Intrigued, they too joined the queue and were ushered into a big hall where Gandhi spent a few minutes with the whole group. Upon learning that the young men were from Rae Bareli, her family pocket borough, she called for her aide from the region, a man in his 40s.

That was the first time Chaudhary met Yashpal Kapur, then Gandhi's private secretary. "It seemed Kapur was amon...