Both Advani and Vajpayee are my favourites: Venkaiah

Ranchi, June 17: BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu found himself on a sticky wicket when a television anchor on Thursday, Jun 16 asked him who between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani is his favourite leader.

"It's just like asking who is favourite between father and mother. For me both of them are favourites," Naidu said during a special TV show tonight.

To why he chose Rural Development ministry in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government at Centre, Naidu said he was offered to choose between power and road transport ministries, but he sought rural development instead.

"When NDA came to power, I was first asked to take the power ministry and then road transport. But I said I could do better in the rural sector because I know how bad the roads in the rural areas had been during my childhood," he said.

"I use to walk three km to reach school without good roads. We introduced Prime Minister Rural Road Project and I take solace in that project which had laid out roads in rural areas," Naidu said.

PTI