Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician who served as the

vice president of India The vice president of India (ISO: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in t ...

from 2017 to 2022. He has also served as the minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation,

Urban Development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

and Information and Broadcasting in the Modi Cabinet. Naidu has also served as the national president of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

from 2002 to 2004. Earlier, he was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He took the oath as the vice president of India and the chairman of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

(ex-officio as the Vice President) on 11 August 2017. In 2024, The Government of India honoured him with

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons w ...

, India's second highest civilian award.

Early life

Venkaiah Naidu was born on 1 July 1949 at Chavatapalem village (near Venkatachalam) in

Nellore district Nellore district, officially known as Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district in Coastal Andhra Region, is one of the 26 districts in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. According to the 2011 Census, the district's population was 2,963,557 of which ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, to Rangaiah Naidu and Ramanamma. He completed his schooling from Zilla Parshad High School, Bucchireddy Palem (Nellore), and pursued his bachelor's degree in politics and diplomatic studies at V. R. College,

Nellore Nellore, also spelt as Nelluru, is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India.Andhra University College of Law,

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

. He was a ''swayamsevak'' in the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS,, ) is an Indian right-wing politics, right-wing, Hindutva, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar ( ...

and joined

ABVP The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is a student organization in India, registered as a Non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1949. It's a significant student union with over 5 million members, making it one of the largest student or ...

during his college days. He was elected as the president of the students' union of colleges affiliated with the

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

. He came into the spotlight for his prominent role in the

Jai Andhra Movement Jai Andhra movement is a 1972 political movement in support for the creation of Andhra state in the light of injustices felt by the people of the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema Regions. This was after the Andhra Pradesh High Court and Supreme Co ...

of 1972. While

Kakani Venkata Ratnam Kakani Venkata Ratnam was a former cabinet minister in Andhra Pradesh in India. Life He was born in Akunuru, Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh,, where he was educated up to primary level. He learned Sanskrit and Hindi languages from a tuto ...

led the movement from

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

, Naidu took active part in the agitation in Nellore, until it was called off a year later. In 1974, he became the convener of

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti of Andhra Pradesh. He took to the streets in protest against the Emergency and was imprisoned. From 1977 to 1980, he was president of its youth wing.

Political career

Both as a student leader and political figure, Naidu gained prominence as an orator who 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 The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly ( Telugu: ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ శాసన సభ, ISO: ''Āndhra Pradēś Śāsana Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state, Andhra Pradesh. ...

twice from Udaygiri constituency in Nellore district in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. He rose to become one of the most popular leaders of the BJP in Andhra Pradesh. After serving in various organisational posts of the BJP at the state and national level, he was elected as a member of the

from

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

in 1998. He was 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 NDA may stand for: Military * National Defence Academy (disambiguation) * National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military * Naval Defence Act (disambiguation) * Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group in Nigeria's ...

victory in the 1999 general elections, he became the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the government headed by Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

. 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 The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) () is a nationwide plan in India to provide good all-weather road connectivity to unconnected villages. Of 178,000 (1.7 lakh) habitations with a population of above 500 in the plains and above 250 i ...

President of BJP (2002–04)

Naidu succeeded

Jana Krishnamurthi K. Jana Krishnamurthi (24 May 1928 – 25 September 2007) was an Indian political leader who rose to be the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2001. A former Union Law Minister and a member of the Parliament of India, Kris ...

as the National President of the

in 2003. On 28 January 2004, he was elected unopposed for a full three-year term. After the defeat of the BJP-led

in the 2004 general elections, he resigned from his post on 18 October 2004 and was succeeded by

L. K. Advani Lal Krishna Advani (born 8 November 1927) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004. He is one of the co-founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sa ...

. However, he remained at the forefront of the BJP as one of its senior vice-presidents and an important campaigner. Naidu raised the "Special Status to Andhra Pradesh" issue in Rajya Sabha (as opposition member in February 2014) and demanded special category state status to Andhra Pradesh. The Prime Minister agreed to it, though it was not included in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.

Minister of Urban Affairs

Following the victory of the BJP in the 2014 general elections, he was sworn in as the Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014. Naidu is also involved with the Swarna Bharat 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 programsme, especially for women and youth. He was nominated by the BJP on 29 May 2016 for the

from Rajasthan and was elected.

Vice Presidency (2017–2022)

On 5 July 2016, he concurrently served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting. A year later, he resigned from both offices to contest the 2017 vice presidential election. He won the election to become India's 13th Vice President. He obtained 516 votes against UPA candidate

Gopalkrishna Gandhi Gopalkrishna Devadas Gandhi (born 22 April 1945) is a former administrator and diplomat who served as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). As a forme ...

, who received 244 votes. As his tenure ended, Naidu decided to move back to Hyderabad with his family and declared that he will resume his career in the service of the nation. He was succeeded by

Jagdeep Dhankhar Jagdeep Dhankhar (; born 18 May 1951) is an Indian politician and lawyer serving as the vice president of India since 2022. He previously served as the List of governors of West Bengal, Governor of West Bengal from 2019 to 2022. He also serve ...

on 11 August 2022.

Positions held

* 1973–74: President, Students' Union,

* 1974: Convener, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Yuvajana Chatra Sangharsha Samithi, Andhra Pradesh * 1977–80: President, Youth Wings 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 BJP * 1988–93: President, Andhra Pradesh State BJP * 1993 – September 2000: National General Secretary,

* Secretary, BJP Parliamentary Board * Secretary, BJP Central Election Committee * Spokesperson of the BJP * Since 1998: Member, Rajya Sabha from Karnataka (3 terms) * 30 September 2000 – 1 July 2002: Minister of Rural Development * 1 July 2002 – 5 October 2004: National President, Bharatiya Janata Party * April 2005 - 10 August 2017: National Vice-president, Bharatiya Janata Party. * 2014–2017: Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs * 2016–2017:

Minister of Information and Broadcasting The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is a ministerial level agency of the Government of India responsible for the formulation and administration of rules, regulations and laws in the areas of information, broadcasting, the press, and th ...

* 2017–2022:

Vice President of India The vice president of India (ISO: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in t ...

Awards and honours

National honours

*: **

(2024)

Foreign honours

*: **

Order of the Green Crescent of Comoros - ribbon bar

Order of the Green Crescent of Comoros, ''Commander'' (3 August 2019)

Honorary degrees

University for Peace The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international university and intergovernmental organization established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate, doctoral, and executive ...

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(D.Phil.) (8 March 2019)

References

External links

Detailed Profile: Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu
*
Venkaiah Naidu's Indian Express Column
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Naidu, Venkaiah 1949 births Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Andhra Pradesh Indian Hindus Members of the Cabinet of India Janata Party politicians Living people Narendra Modi ministry People from Nellore Ministers for information and broadcasting of India Presidents of Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan Telugu people Vice presidents of India Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs Indian people imprisoned during the Emergency (India)