Son of PM’s former aide is BJP pick for Shravasti seat

After returning to India, Saket first started a firm dealing in private equity in the MSME sector in Delhi. Sources close to him say his heart, though, was in social service, underlining that it was not really politics that attracted him.

By 2017, when the BJP came to power in UP with a comprehensive majority and Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister, Saket started becoming a known face in Lucknow circles. According to sources, Adityanath was among the first senior people in the BJP that Saket called on and the CM told him to focus on eastern UP.

Saket chose Shravasti district, where his maternal grandfather Badlu Ram Shukla’s home was, to make his start. Shukla was a five-term Lok Sabha MP from Bahraich.

In his initial phase in politics, Saket started with informal meetings with small groups of people, including BJP workers. Soon, the party started calling him to its organisational programmes, while the BJP youth wing turned to him for its interactive events at colleges.

By 2018, Saket was a BJP member, and a year later, was appointed as an adviser to the Poorvanchal Vikas Board to advise the government on holistic development of eastern UP, covering around 27 districts. Saket is an adjunct faculty (finance) at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, run under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.