All you need to know about Venkaiah Naidu – The Vice President of India

Index

1. Introduction
2. Personal Life
3. Career
4. Positions held

Introduction

We know all know about the President of India, the Prime Minister of India, the Home Minister of India, the Finance Minister of India, because of the media coverage they get daily. New policies are developed every day, giving media platforms content to air. But do you know who is the Vice President of India? The position of Vice President is as essential as any other official position held by ministers, yet only a few know about the current Vice President of India. Let us dig into the life of Mr. Venkaiah Naidu – Vice President of India.

Personal life

Mr. Venkaiah Naidu was born in Chavatapalem, of Andhra Pradesh, then known as Madras State. He was born on 1 July 1949 to Ramanamma and Rangaiah Naidu. Mr. Venkaiah Naidu’s age is 70 years. Mr. Naidu is married to Mrs. Usha Naidu and has two kids. His schooling was done in Zilla Parishad High School, Nellore. He completed his Bachelor’s in politics and diplomatic studies from V.R. College Nellore. He also has a Bachelor’s degree in law, specialization in International Law from Andhra University College of Law, Visakhapatnam.

Mr. Naidu was a part of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and he later joined ABVP while in college. He was elected president of the Student Union of colleges affiliated to his university. He rose to prominence by playing a significant role in the Jai Andhra Movement of Andhra Pradesh in 1972.

Kakani Venkata Ratnam led the movement from Vijayawada, Nellore division of the Jai Andhra Movement was under Mr. Naidu, but the movement was called off one year later.

In 1974 Mr. Naidu acted as a convener and formed anti-corruption Jayapralash Narayan chhatra Sangharsh Samiti. He protested on the streets during the emergency in India. This also led to his imprisonment. He was the President of Jayaprakash Narayan Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti from 1977 to 1980.

Career

As a political leader or a student leader, Naidu was an excellent orator who could view woo the crowd with his voice and tone. His oratory skills were one of the reasons for his popularity. His speeches focused on farmers and the development of remote areas. Due to his charm and activism for causes of the needy, he was elected MLA in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly two times from Udaygiri in Nellore. He served as an MLA of the district from 1978 to 1988. He established himself as a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Andhra Pradesh.

After serving in various posts of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the state and national level, he became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1998. He was elected twice again in 2004 and then in 2010 from Karnataka. He was the spokesperson for BJP from 1996 to 2000; he was best in alliteration and similes in his interviews and speeches. He was appreciated for his efforts to master Hindi and addressing the rallies in Northern India in Hindi, which is seldom done by South Indian leaders.

After NDA won in the 1999 elections, he was selected to become the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development. He held this position under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He pushed several reforms in his department and introduced numerous policies for the benefit of rural citizens. He also launched Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

He was selected as the National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2003. Mr. Naidu succeeded Jana Krishnamurthi and was elected for a three-year term. In 2004 general elections the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA could not win, which led to the resignation of Mr. Naidu from his position in the party in October 2004. Mr. L.K. Advani succeeded him. He remained a prominent leader in the party. After his resignation, he was the senior vice president of the party and also a campaigner. His special attention was towards issues of Andhra Pradesh, his home state. He raised several concerns about Andhra Pradesh in Rajya Sabha. After the Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2014 general elections, he became the Minister of Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs in May 2014.

Naidu was a part of Swarna Bharat Trust, an organization founded by him. The trust is responsible for the education of poor, orphaned, and special children. The trust runs a school for needy kids. It also organizes self-employment training programs for youth and women of Andhra Pradesh.

Bharatiya Janata Party nominated Mr. Naidu for Rajya Sabha, and he was elected from Rajasthan. In July 2016, he, along with his post, also served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. He resigned from both his posts to participate in Vice President Election of 2017. He became 15th Vice president of India, succeeding Mr. Hamid Ansari. He received 516 votes, which resulted in his win.

Positions held

Mr. Naidu has a longstanding career in politics from his college days until now. He has served our country by taking command of various positions. He brought several reforms for Rural India and was always considerate of his Home State. Below is the list of Positions held by him during his political career from the latest to first.

1. He succeeded Mohammad Hamid Ansari and became the Vice President of India on 11 August 2017 under President Ram Nath Kovind.
2. He succeeded Mr. Arun Jaitley and became Minister of Information and Broadcast on 5 July 2016 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
3. He succeeded Anand Sharma and became a Member of Rajya Sabha for Rajasthan on 5 July 2016.
4. He succeeded Kamal Nath (Urban Development) and Girija Vyas (Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation). He took control of the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
5. He succeeded Kamal Nath and became Minister of Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
6. He succeeded Jana Krishnamurthi and became President of the Bharatiya Janata Party on 1 July 2002.
7. He succeeded Sundar Lal Patwa and became Minister for Rural Development on 30 September 2000 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
8. He succeeded H.D. Deve Gowda and became a Member of Rajya Sabha for Karnataka on 27 March 1998.
9. He succeeded Ponneboyina Chenchuramaiah and became a Member of the Andhra Legislative Assembly for Udaygiri.
10. He was the President of the Youth Wings of Janata Party Andhra Pradesh from 1977 to 1980.
11. He acted as a convener for Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Yuvajana Chatra Sangharsha Saimthi in Andhra Pradesh in 1974.
12. He was the President of the Student Union of Andhra University from 1973 to 1974.