Venkaiah Naidu

Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician serving as the Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Information & Broadcasting in the Narendra Modi government. A prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, he has also served as its national president from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, he was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Naidu was born on 1 July 1949 at Chavatapalem, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. He completed his schooling from V.R. High School, Nellore & pursued his bachelor's degree in Politics and Diplomatic Studies from V.R. College. Later, he acquired a bachelor's degree in Law with specialisation in International Law from Law College, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

Having been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from his childhood, he started his career in politics as a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the year 1973–74 after being elected as the president of the students union of Andhra University Colleges. He came into spotlight for his prominent role in the Jai Andhra Movement of 1972. While Kakani Venkataratnam led the movement from Vijayawada, Venkaiah Naidu took active part in the agitation in Nellore, until it was called off a year later.

In 1974, he became the convener of the anti corruption Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Kshatra Sangharsha Samiti of Andhra Pradesh. He took to streets in protest against the emergency and was imprisoned. From 1977–80, he was President of the Youth Wing.

Both as a student leader and political figure, Venkaiah Naidu gained prominence as a brilliant orator, who vigorously championed the cause of the farmers and the development of backward areas. His oratory skills and political activism propelled his political career and he was elected as an MLA to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly twice from Udayagiri constituency in Nellore district in 1978 and 1983. He rose to become one of the most popular leaders of the BJP in Andhra Pradesh.

After having served in various organisational posts of the BJP at the state and national level, he was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in 1998. He has since been re-elected twice in 2004 and 2010 from Karnataka. He served as the party spokesperson from 1996 to 2000, bringing to the job his panache for quirky alliterations and similes. Unlike most politicians from southern India, Naidu made an effort to master Hindi, going on to address public rallies in northern India.

After the NDA victory in the 1999 general elections, he became the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural development in the government headed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was known for aggressively pushing for reforms in Rural development and for the many schemes introduced during this period such as the 'Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.'

He succeeded Jana Krishnamurthy as the National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2002. On 28 January 2004, he was elected unopposed for a full 3-year term. After the defeat of the BJP led NDA in the 2004 general elections, he resigned from his post on 18 October 2004 and was succeeded by L.K. Advani. However, he has remained in the forefront of the BJP as one of its senior vice-presidents and an important campaigner.

Following the historic victory of the BJP in the 2014 general elections, he has sworn as the Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014.

Naidu is also involved with the Swarna Bharath Trust, a social service organisation founded by him in Nellore. The trust runs a school for poor, orphaned and special-needs children and imparts self-employment training programmes especially for women and youth.

He has been nominated by the BJP on 29 May 2016 for the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on 11 June. He will be the BJP's candidate from Rajasthan.

• 1973–74 : President, Students Union, Andhra University
• 1974 : Convener, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Yuvajana Chatra Sangharsha Samithi, Andhra Pradesh
• 1977–80 : President, Youth Wing of Janata Party, Andhra Pradesh
• 1978–85 : Member, Legislative Assembly, Andhra Pradesh (2 terms)
• 1980–85 : Leader, B.J.P Legislative Party in Andhra Pradesh
• 1985–88 : general secretary, Andhra Pradesh State B.J.P.
• 1988-93 : President, Andhra Pradesh State B.J.P.
• 1993 – September 2000 : National general secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party
• Secretary, B.J.P. Parliamentary Board
• Secretary, B.J.P. Central Election Committee
• Spokesperson of the B.J.P.
• Since 1998 : Member, Rajya Sabha from Karnataka (3 terms)
• 30 September 2000 to 1 July 2002 : Minister of Rural Development, Government of India
• 1 July 2002 to 5 October 2004 : National President, Bharatiya Janata Party
• April 2005 onwards : National Vice-President, Bharatiya Janata Party.
• 26 May 2014: Union minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs

• "Timesofindia". 26 May 2014.