Handsome and high profile, aristocratic by habit, Vidya Charan Shukla has been a member of the Lok Sabha since 1957 except for a brief break in 1977. His first ministerial office was that of Union deputy minister in 1962. Five years later he was a Minister of State and in 1975 a Cabinet minister.

He is son of Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla, Chief Minister of the erstwhile Central Provinces (now Madhya Pradesh). His elder brother Shyama Charan Shukla is a former Chief Minister and leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

During his long tenure he has handled a large number of portfolios including External Affairs, Defence Production, Planning, Information and Broadcasting, Finance, Home, Civil Supplies and Water Resources. For a long period he left the Congress and was a minister in the Chandra Shekhar cabinet in 1990-91.

However, he was denied a Congress ticket in 1996 for having been allegedly involved in the hawala case from which he was discharged later. He lost the election in 1998. It was the second defeat in his long parliamentary career. He was chairman of the Society for National Institute of Physical Education and Sports and also of the Special Organising Committee for the ninth Asian Games in 1982. In 1969-70 he was a member of the Congress Working Committee.

Born on August 2, 1929 at Raipur, he is a graduate and is married to Sarla. They have three daughters.

His hobbies include photography, hunting and reading.