From pasting posters to V-P, Venkaiah goes the distance
NEWDELHI:From pasting posters to an epitome of political and ideological loyalty who rose to become one of BJP’s most visible leaders and now India’s vice president-elect, Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu has come a long way.
Born to a humble agricultural family in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, the 68-year-old has served as BJP president, minister in various portfolios and a longtime Rajya Sabha member.
This remarkable career in politics has been more than four decades in the making.
It began in the 1970s when BJP’s precursor Jana Sangh was a marginal player with little clout in the south and a young party worker kept himself busy putting up posters of stalwarts such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.
Naidu has come a long way since those days of political obscurity. “Coming from an agricultural background, I never imagined I would be here. Agriculture has no proper voice in Indian polity,” India’s vice president-elect said while speaking to a news agency.
“I am very humbled. I am also thankful to the Prime Minister and all party leaders for their support. I will seek to utilise the vice presidential institution to strengthen the hands of the president and uphold the dignity of the Upper House,” he added.
Naidu is known for his oratory. A two-term member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha three times from Karnataka.
He represented Rajasthan in the Upper House before he was nominated to the vice president’s post by the NDA.
Once an Advani protege, Naidu vigorously backed Modi for the prime minister’s post before the 2014 elections.
He was minister for information and broadcasting (I&B) and housing and urban affairs in the Modi government and also held the parliamentary affairs portfolio earlier. In the previous NDA government led by Vajpayee, he served as the rural development minister.
The veteran party leader also served as the BJP national president from July 2002 to October 2004 for two consecutive terms.
Known for coining acronyms, Naidu termed the mission of the Modi Government as ‘MODIMaking of Developed India’ which had become the official line of the Centre in its public outreach campaign on the occasion of three years of being in office.