The decision of the ruling Bharathiya Janata Party to nominate Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu as candidate for the Vice-President's post marks the peak in his eventful political career spanning more than six decades.
Born on July 1 1949 in an agriculture family in Chavatapalem village of Nellore district in then Madras presidency Venkaiah Naidu had started his political career as a student leader. Associated with the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) since his school days Venkaiah Naidu honed his leadership and managerial skills by actively participating in Students politics.
A graduate in law from Andhra University Visakhapatanam Venkaiah Naidu was president of students union in RV College and Andhra University. A dyed in the wool member of RSS he had his first trial by fire when he joined Jayprakash Narayan, movement against Indira government and actively participated in the agitation as the convenor of the state students wing of JP moment.
In 1977 when the Janata Party ousted Indira Gandhi from power he became State unit President of the Janata Party youth wing.
He had his first tryst with electoral politics when he was elected to the Andhra Pradesh assembly in 1978. He returned to the assembly again 1983 and also served as the BJP leader in the state assembly.
Through his hardwork and consistency he build a strong reputation and caught the attention of central leadership to become the Vice-President of national youth wing of the BJP.
He also held many other positions like the general secretary and the president of the State BJP. He became national general secretary of the party in 1993.
While serving on many other positions in the party he emerged as the tallest and most seasoned BJP leader in South. Though he was never elected to lok Sabha and was in fact defeated from Hyderabad lok Sabha seat Venkaiah Naidu was elected to Rajya Sabha for four consecutive terms from neighbouring state of Karnataka.
When the BJP came to power at the Centre for the first time Naidu became the Union Minister for rural development in Vajpayee Cabinet in 2000. From 2002 to 2004 be served the party as national president.
When the BJP returned to power at the Centre in 2014 Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted him into his Cabinet and gave him key portfolio of rural development, housing, poverty alleviation and Parliamentary affair.
Know for his repartee, and alliterations Venkaiah Naidu often bowled over the opponents. Despite his clear and unwavering commitment to Sangh Parivar ideology, always enjoyed good relations across the political spectrum. He remains unaffected by changing power equations in the BJP. After a very long association with lK Advani he managed to strike a very good rapport with the new star of the party Narendra Modi as soon as it became clear that he will be the next Prime Minister.
Very good at sensing the direction of political winds, Venkaiah Naidu was always on the right side of the leadership.
He won over the heart of Narendra Modi in his typical style when he called him the Avatar of God who India was lucky to have. "Modi stands for maker of developed India", he declared recently reassuring his position as a loyal soldier.
This was a throw back to the Vajpayee-Advani era when attention to strike a balance between the two top leaders he had said, "Vajpayee is Vikas Purush (man of progress) and Advani is loh Purush (iron man).
It was this ability at keeping the leader in good humour which played a no mean role in his rise in the party and power echelons.
With the twin support of RSS leadership and Modi-Amit Shah duo Venkaiah Naidu is now all set to become the Vice President of India.
Though he has now resigned from the BJP and declared that he does not belong to the BJP any more, Venkaiah Naidu's choice as Vice President was being seen as a clever and defy move by Narendra Modi to win the hearts and minds of South India where BJP was aiming to expand its base.
While he enjoys a lot of goodwill in both the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh he also has a lot of clout and good friends in two other southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where his hand was seen behind the realignment of forces in ruling AIADMK after the death of Jayalalitha.
During the turmoil in Parliament over the formation of Telangana in 2013 he earned a lot of goodwill for the BJP in AP with his strident demand that Andhra Pradesh should be compensated for its losses due to bifurcation. His protest extracted an assurance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh they AP will be accorded special category status. However this remains unfulfilled.
As AP, his home state will be unanimous in supporting his candidature, such his command over state craft they his known soft corner for AP has not deterred the ruling TRS from declaring support for Venkaiah Naidu.