Before her spectacular comeback in January 1980, Indira Gandhi did patch up briefly with Bahuguna, who was happy to return to her fold. But no feeler went to Nandini whose years in the wilderness were aggravated by a nasty family dispute. One of her sons is an MLA owing allegiance to the Biju Janata Dal.

Nearly a decade ago I ran into Nadini Satpathy at Palam, and inquired how she was. She gave me a wan smile and said, “In politics as well as life one has to take the rough with the smooth.”

This could well be her epitaph. And one might add that she was both the symbol and one of many victims of Indira Gandhi’s distinctive style of politics.

The writer is a well-known political commentator