All you need to know about India’s 13th Vice President – Venkaiah Naidu

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Venkaiah Naidu

Muppavarupa Venkaiah Naidu succeeded Hamid Ansari by becoming the 13th Vice President of India on 5th August 2017. With his 516 votes, he defeated former West Bengal Governor and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who only got 244 votes. He will be the third Vice President hailing from Andhra Pradesh, after Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and VV Giri.

Venkaiah Naidu – Political Career at a glance

During his college years, his interest in politics arose making him join ABVP, the student wing of BJP. He also worked as a swayamsevak in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. His participation and hard work paid off as he was elected as the president of the student unions affiliated with Andhra University. His active participation in the “Jai Andhra Movement” brought him into the spotlight.

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Before the emergency, he convened the anti-corruption Jayaprakash Narayan Chattra Sangarsh Samiti of Andhra Pradesh. During the emergency, he was imprisoned for his protest against emergency.

Since college times, he had great leadership skills which lifted his political career as he was elected as a Member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly twice from Udayagiri constituency in 1978 and 1982. Ever since then there was no looking back, he rose to be one of the most popular leaders of BJP in the Andhra Pradesh region.

In whichever post he was in, his hard work, leadership and oratory skills always worked for his benefit and he ended up being a part of the Union Cabinet. Naidu started off with working at the grass root level, continuing it to the state and the national level.  After working profoundly at the state and the national level, Naidu was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in 1998. He was reelected in 2004 and 2010 from the same state. He also worked as the Party Spokesperson from 1996 to 2000.

In 1999, Naidu was given the post of the minister of Rural Development under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister. He also made an effort to learn Hindi, being a South Indian, in order to address rallies in Hindi.

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In the year 2002 – 2003, he was elected as the National President of BJP. During his tenure as a National President, he focused on conveying and informing people about the initiatives introduced by BJP for their development and welfare.

Post the BJP defeat in the General Elections of 2004, Venkaiah Naidu resigned from the post taking responsibility of the defeat. But even after the resignation, he remained at the forefront as one of the senior vice – presidents and important campaigner of BJP.

After the historic win of BJP in the 2014 general election, Naidu was given the responsibility for the Ministry of Urban Development and Parliamentary Affair on 26th May 2014. On 5th July 2016, he simultaneously served as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 

In July 2017, Naidu resigned from both his posts in order to contest for the Vice – Presidential Elections of 2017. He won the election with 516 votes becoming the 13th Vice President of India, succeeding Mohammad Hamid Ansari.

Initiatives taken by Venkaiah Naidu –

He was known for his reforms and schemes introducing for rural development during the Vajpayee tenure, such as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. He was introduced the Gaon Chalo Abhiyan in which the leaders of the BJP communicated with the people living in the remote village and made them aware of the initiatives were undertaken by the NDA government. Naidu also founded a social service organization in Nellore named, Swarna Bharat Trust. The trust runs for the welfare of the needy and the poor, the orphaned and the physically disabled kids. They also impart self-employment training programs, focusing the youth and women

Political Positions held by Venkaiah Naidu – 

  • Started as the President of Student Union, Andhra University (1973 – 74)
  • Worked as a Convener for Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Yuvajana Chatra Sangharsha Samithi (1974)
  • Served as the President of Youth Wing of Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh (1977 – 80)
  • Elected as an MLA from Andhra Pradesh for two terms (1978 -85)
  • Headed the BJP Legislative Assembly in Andhra Pradesh (1980 – 85)
  • Elected as the General Secretary of BJP in Andhra Pradesh (1985 – 88)
  • Served as the President of  BJP in Andhra Pradesh (1988 – 93)
  • Elected as the National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (1993 – 2000)
  • Served Spokesperson of the B.J.P.
  • Elected as member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka for three terms (since 1998)
  • Served as the Minister of Rural Development (2000 – 2002)
  • Elected as the National President, Bharatiya Janata Party (2002 – 2004)
  • Served National Vice-President, Bharatiya Janata Party (Since 2005)
  • Elected as the Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs (2014 – 2017)
  • Served as the  Minister of Information and Broadcasting (2016 – 2017)
  • Elected as Vice President of India  (2017 – till date)

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