<div align="justify">Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu was on Monday picked by the BJP to contest against Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the vice presidential election. The decision to field Naidu, veteran politician from Andhra Pradesh, was taken at a BJP parliamentary board meeting. The election is slated for August 5.<br /><br />The BJP is planning an aggressive push in the south ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The Opposition is fielding Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, who is a retired IAS officer and a diplomat.<br /><br />Naidu’s 25 years in politics and his farming background tilted the scale in his favour. The vice president is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, where Naidu has served four terms. After the meeting at the BJP's Ashoka Road headquarters, party chief Amit Shah announced Naidu would be the NDA candidate in the vice presidential election. <br /><br />Shah described him as “an important leader from the south.” Naidu holds urban development, and information and broadcasting portfolios. Born on July 1, 1949, Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu, a Kamma by caste, comes from Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. He graduated in law from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam and pursued student politics as an ABVP leader.<br /><br />Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who presided over the meeting attended by senior ministers, tweeted to hail him as a “fitting candidate for the office of Vice President.” Shah told reporters Naidu would file his papers at 11 am on Tuesday. Before that, he will have to quit as minister holding two important ministries.<br /><br />Venkaiah Naidu, 68, was recently told by BJP president Amit Shah about prime minister Narendra Modi's decision to field him for vice president. Naidu was reluctant as it would curtail his active political life. Shah, however, told him some decisions were taken in the party's interest. Naidu then agreed, according to an aide. Naidu met Modi on Monday, hours before the party made public his name to fight the election. <br /><br />“He has always accepted party decisions in the past and he has done that this time as well,” Shah told reporters. With the NDA having numbers on its side, the BJP will be able to install its candidate as vice president for the second time. It had placed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the post earlier. Naidu has come a long way from being a ‘sahayak’ of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the late 1960s.<br /><br /><br /></div>
<div align="justify">Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu was on Monday picked by the BJP to contest against Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the vice presidential election. The decision to field Naidu, veteran politician from Andhra Pradesh, was taken at a BJP parliamentary board meeting. The election is slated for August 5.<br /><br />The BJP is planning an aggressive push in the south ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The Opposition is fielding Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, who is a retired IAS officer and a diplomat.<br /><br />Naidu’s 25 years in politics and his farming background tilted the scale in his favour. The vice president is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, where Naidu has served four terms. After the meeting at the BJP's Ashoka Road headquarters, party chief Amit Shah announced Naidu would be the NDA candidate in the vice presidential election. <br /><br />Shah described him as “an important leader from the south.” Naidu holds urban development, and information and broadcasting portfolios. Born on July 1, 1949, Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu, a Kamma by caste, comes from Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. He graduated in law from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam and pursued student politics as an ABVP leader.<br /><br />Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who presided over the meeting attended by senior ministers, tweeted to hail him as a “fitting candidate for the office of Vice President.” Shah told reporters Naidu would file his papers at 11 am on Tuesday. Before that, he will have to quit as minister holding two important ministries.<br /><br />Venkaiah Naidu, 68, was recently told by BJP president Amit Shah about prime minister Narendra Modi's decision to field him for vice president. Naidu was reluctant as it would curtail his active political life. Shah, however, told him some decisions were taken in the party's interest. Naidu then agreed, according to an aide. Naidu met Modi on Monday, hours before the party made public his name to fight the election. <br /><br />“He has always accepted party decisions in the past and he has done that this time as well,” Shah told reporters. With the NDA having numbers on its side, the BJP will be able to install its candidate as vice president for the second time. It had placed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the post earlier. Naidu has come a long way from being a ‘sahayak’ of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the late 1960s.<br /><br /><br /></div>
