Lok Sabha polls gave a message that is important to understand: Former vice-president Venkaiah Naidu | Rajkot News - Times of India

Source: The Times of India

ANAND: Indian voters have brought in the change they wanted and this has given a message to all, right from top to bottom, former vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday as he hailed former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for successfully running in a stable coalition government comprising 23 parties.

"Whatever change they wanted to make, they brought it peacefully.They gave a message to all right - from the top to the bottom: there's a message in the election. And I hope that people understand the message," he said.

Naidu was the chief guest at the 43rd convocation ceremony of the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) which was held at the TK Patel Auditorium at Anand-based National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

Hailing Vajpayee, Naidu said, "He brought together 23 parties and proved to be a stable leader and gave a stable government," Naidu said.

The former V-P left the audience in splits when he recalled how the BJP patriarch had refused to give him the agriculture portfolio. "In 2002, Vajpayeeji invited me to join the government and offered me the energy portfolio. I told him politely that I didn't know the a,b,c,d of energy subject," he recalled. Naidu was then the party general secretary.

"I again politely told him to offer something else. He asked me a little impatiently what I wanted. I told him I would be more than happy if given agriculture. Then he looked at his secretary who told him that agriculture was with one of our allies - Nitish Kumar at that time. He was already minister of agriculture. So, Atalji told me we cannot disturb him. Tell me what next," he said.

Naidu then became the union cabinet minister for rural development in the Vajpayee government.

He said that challenges faced by rural India are multifaceted and complex. "From continued agrarian distress to infrastructural challenges, from limited access to education and healthcare to the menace of unemployment, there are a host of adversities faced by rural communities," he said.