Emotional Naidu talks of unfulfilled dream

NDA’s vice presidential candidate M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday spoke his heart out about his journey from Nellore to Delhi and his “unfulfilled” dream. Naidu said he had to give up active politics before a wish remained unfulfilled – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return to power in 2019. 

The former party president from Andhra Pradesh had to “withdraw” from the BJP to contest for the constitutional post.  “I had told my colleagues that I want to see Prime Minister Modi come back again in 2019 and then I will call it off and join social service. But destiny decided otherwise. Finally, after the discussion, I have agreed. I have withdrawn myself from the party. I do not belong to the BJP now,” Naidu said at his farewell press conference after filing the nomination.

He resigned from the Cabinet on Monday night after BJP chief Amit Shah announced his candidature. The former minister vowed to uphold traditions and standards set by his predecessors and to maintain the dignity that a constitutional post desires. “The office of the vice president is a different profile, has its functional norms. I hope I will be able to do justice,” Naidu said.

Playing down reports that he was reluctant to move out of the government, Naidu thanked Modi and Shah for bestowing the honour. With numbers on the NDA side in both Houses of Parliament, Naidu is set to become the second BJP leader after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to become the vice president. The election will be held on August 5. Naidu said India’s beauty and strength lay in its parliamentary democratic system and that he would strive to strengthen it further.