Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has revealed that he never wanted to take up the position and said that he was in tears the day he was named for the Vice-President’s post for he was worried about the future of the movement (ABVP, RSS), which left him in tears. Naidu said that the party had given him everything, except Prime Ministership, for which he was not suitable.
“I joined the movement at a young age and the party gave me everything, except Prime Ministership, for which I am not suitable. I know my capacities and calibre,” he said. Naidu was speaking at a book launch event on Sunday on his two-year term in office titled “Listening, Learning & Leading.”
Naidu said he expressed his interest to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that in his second term (after 2019) he wanted to quit the government, follow the footsteps of Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader and social activist Nanaji Deshmukh and go for constructive work (Rachanathmak Karyakram). “I was planning on that ground….I was enjoying that I will be doing that… But this did not happen,” Naidu said.
Naidu, who assumed the office of Vice President in August 2017, had held several key positions in the BJP. In Modi 1.0, he had served as the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development and Information and Broadcasting.
Stating that he even suggested some names for the VP post, he said “After a party parliamentary board meeting, Amit (Shah) bhai said everyone in the party thought I will be the most suitable man. I never expected that. I was in tears, not because I was losing the ministership, which I anyway was going to leave.”
Naidu recalled that he suggested some names for the VP post. He said that after a party parliamentary board meeting, Amit Shah backed him, saying that everyone in the party thought he would be the most suitable man for the post.