Ram Khandekar, who worked as an OSD to former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, died after a prolonged illness at his hometown Nagpur late on June 8th night. He was 87.
His last rights would be performed at Amazari ghat at 9 am.
He leaves behind his son Mukul, daughter in law Sangeeta and two grandchildren, Gaurang and Janhavi besides a host of relatives.
Earlier, he had worked as personal secretary to former Maharashtra Chief Ministeer and former Defence Minister Y B Chavan.
Khandekar was invited by Narasimha Rao in 1985 to manage his then constituency of Ramtek. In 1991, when Rao became the Prime Minister, Khandekar, as his OSD, was considered his closest confidant. Khandekar worked with Rao till the latter’s death.
Khandekar often wrote for scores of Marathi newspapers and penned at least 60-70 articles for different Diwali Anks based on his service period and interactions with the political leadership.
In 2018, he wrote a weekly column for Loksatta based on his vast experience of over five decades of public life in the shadow of power. The same was published as a book called ‘सतà¥à¤¤à¥‡à¤šà¥à¤¯à¤¾ पडछायेत’ by Rajhans Publication in 2019.