M Venkaiah Naidu

Urban Development Housing, Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs
Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (born 1 July 1949) is an Indian politician hailing from Andhra Pradesh. He is a prominent leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and has also served as the National President of the party from 2002 to 2004. Currently, he is serving as the Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs in the Narendra Modi government. Earlier, he was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.He succeeded Jana Krishnamurthy as the National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2002. On January 28, 2004, he was elected unopposed for a full 3 year term. After the defeat of the BJP led NDA in the 2004 general elections, he resigned from his post on October 18, 2004 and was succeeded by L.K. Advani. However, he has remained in the forefront of the BJP as one of its senior vice presidents and an important campaigner.Following the historic victory of the BJP in the 2014 general elections, he has sworn is as the Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs on 26 May 2014.Notwithstanding his stature and hectic schedules in national politics, Venkaiah did not cut off his roots in home town. He launched a social service organization-Swarna Bharath Trust in Nellore serving the poor and needy. The trust runs a school for poor, orphan and special children. It imparts self-employment training programmes especially for women and youth.