Some people have been congratulating Venkaiah Ji for some reasons.  I am congratulating him for changing his habits. Because when I see Venkaiah Ji in the House I see how much effort he makes to restrain himself. I believe that the effort one is required to make to restrain himself and succeeding in that, is in itself a big thing.If the House functions in an orderly manner, no one pays attention to who is the presiding officer. People don’t pay much attention to what are his or her capabilities and what is special  about the person. And mostly the things that remain at the forefront are what are the capabilities of the members, what are their views.However, when the house doesn’t function the focus is solely on the presiding officer; how he is enforcing discipline; how he is restraining the members. That is why the country was fortunate to get the opportunity to take a close look at Venkaiah Ji in the last year. If the House had worked in an orderly manner then perhaps that opportunity would not been there. I had the opportunity to work with Venkaiah Ji for many years and  we have been groomed in the same political culture. When Venkaiah Ji was Party secretary of Andhra Pradesh I was National secretary. And when he was the Party’s National president I was assisting him in the capacity of a Party General secretary.   So in a way we worked as a team. For Venkaiah Ji responsibilities are more important than the office.

It has been informed just a while ago that Venkaiah Ji has visited all the states in one year except one state. However, that state was left out not because no programme was chalked out for it. It was left out because helicopter could not reach there; bad weather created troubles otherwise that state too would have been covered.

We work in the House; sometimes after coming out of a meeting when we think of contacting him we get to know that he had already left; that he had reached Kerala; Tamil Nadu or Andhra. So whatever responsibilities were given to him, he always discharged them fully; put necessary hard work for that and made himself fit for discharging those responsibilities and  that is why he continued to succeed and also made that sector a successful. Fifty years in public life is not a small thing. Ten years in public life as a student and that too as an activist and forty years long political life straight away. And during the 50 years long tenure he  learnt a lot and taught a lot of things to his colleagues. Sometimes  we work with someone so closely; in such a close manner that it becomes difficult to recognize him, to know him. If you are standing ten feet apart from somebody then only you get to know him; however, if you have embraced somebody then it’s difficult to know him. This means that it is very difficult to realisethat we have been very close; but when we hear it from others that our colleague is capable of this thing; that he has these qualities then it gives us immense pride and pleasure that we had the opportunity to work with such a stalwart as a worker.

Venkiah Ji lays a lot of emphasis on discipline and the situation of our country is like this that it’s very easy to call discipline as undemocratic. If someone insists on discipline a little bit then he is gone. People call him autocrat and what not; people use the entire dictionary against him. However, Venkaiah Ji himself follows the discipline which he expects from others. If someone is required to go on a tour with Venkaiah Ji he must remain very alert. First, he never keeps a watch and he does not keep a pen or money with him either. If you are required to travel with him you should understand that you must keep all these things with you. The good thing is that he never keeps a watch with him but he is so disciplined that he arrives at the programme at the right time which is praiseworthy. Arriving at the programme at the right time and if the programme is not concluded within the allotted time then you will see how uneasy he feels and you would feel like concluding the programme very soon. So discipline is a part of his nature and because of this thing whatever responsibility is given to him, he always works with a vision, he has a holistic view to prepare a roadmap, formulate an action plan and strategy and then making it a success by arranging the resources and by roping in capable people for it.

First time when he was appointed a Minister, Atal Ji had a plan to assign him a high profile ministry. He was comfortable with English too and he was representing South so Atal Ji thought of inducting him into council of ministers. I was a General secretary then and when he got a hint of this plan he asked me, “Why you people are putting this burden on me?” When I asked him, “What happened!” Then he replied that it was not his work. I asked him, “What will you do then?” He replied, “I will inform Atal Ji about it.” I told him, “Please, you must meet him and share your views.” And you will be surprised to know that he went to Atal Ji and urged not to assign such high profile ministries to him. He asked Atal Ji for Rural Development ministry saying that he would like to dedicate his life to this thing. So by not accepting the high profile ministries which are considered having some value,  he said he wanted rural development. By his very nature he is a farmer. He is a farmer by vocation and inclination. Doing something for farmers, representing farmers, this thing is so deeply embedded in his mind that he has lived his life like this and because of this he takes interest in rural development. And as Arun Ji had said that Prime Minister’s Rural Road Progamme has always been the most effective programme of all the governments. All MPs want Prime Minister Rural Road Scheme for their area. The credit for putting this into minds of MPs goes to  ShrimanVenkaiah Ji. Similarly, water, water in the rural lives, drinking water, it is one of the tasks for which he has dedicated himself. He used to dedicate his time and energy for this. Even today if the discussion on such topics is being postponed in the House he is the one who gets disturbed the most. When it comes to issues like  villages and farmers then his views are like this: “At least have a discussion in the House that what is happening there.” So the uneasiness that is there in him that is for the welfare of the common man, it is for the aspirations of the common man.

Those who would have heard him speaking in Telugu you just can’t match his speed in speech. He speaks so fast that you would feel as if you are sitting in a local train and he is running it like a superfast train. He speaks so fast! And it is a thing to watch the way he articulates the most impactful thing in his speech. And his rhyming is very natural. And it’s not like that it only happens in public speeches. He talks in such a manner even if someone is sitting next to him. In the House everybody is benefitting from this.I congratulate the entire team that has made this small effort to provide account of his first year in office to the entire country. And I believe that it makes you realise that how to utilise this institution for the welfare of the society, how to bring newness and momentum in it through this office. And this book has outlined  how this institution itself has been moving ahead and cooperating in discharging other tasks of the country.

In a way it seems like that it is the account of one year in office of Mr. Vice President but when you look at it we find that we also figure at some or other place in this family album. You spot some MP or some vice chancellor or some chief minister or some governor so this thing can also be seen how efforts have been made to remain in touch with work in far flung areas.

I convey my best wishes to Venkaiah Ji. And the desire which he has in his mind that the House should function in the proper manner that there should be a full discussion in the House and such issues should be raised in the house that are useful for the country. I believe that his dream about this will be realized through his constant efforts. I convey my best wishes to Venkaiah Ji. Thank you very much!

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AKT/SH/KT/DG/AK