Rajya Sabha bid farewell to union minister Venkaiah Naidu, who is retiring from the House of Elders this month. The house, which till then witnessed heated, debate and accusation and counter accusations suddenly presented a picture of bonhomie with members all parties forgetting the party loyalties and rivalries spoke in one voice while bidding farewell to Naidu. Besides holding the ministry of urban development, Naidu is also the minister for Parliamentary affairs. He is one of the 17 members who are retiring between March 17 and April 25 the period of recess for parliament. The house appreciated the sound contribution made by Naidu to the parliamentary system of the country.

This is Venkaiah Naidu’s third term and he was nominated to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. It was in 1998, when he was general secretary of the party, he was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the BJP leadership, and in 2002 he became minister for rural development in Vajpayee’s NDA government. In 2004, he was denominated to the Upper House for second term again from Karnataka. In 2010 he entered the House for third term. Now the talk among the political circles is that he is likely to get nominated from Andhra Pradesh with the help of TDP.

Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari led the Upper House in appreciating the rich and significant contribution of the retiring members, saying their unique association would be cherished.

He was followed by Deputy Chairman P J Kurien, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley and Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad in paying accolades, irrespective of party lines, to their fellow members.

Naidu in a moving and inimitable speech narrated his association with House and his experience in the House.

Besides Naidu, the other members whose term coming to end in the recess period of the parliament include Balchand Mungekar (Nom), Ashwani Kumar (Cong), M S Gill (Cong), Mani Shankar Aiyar (Cong), Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP), Javed Akhtar (Nom), Jaishree (Nom), K Balagopalan (CPI-M) and T N Seema (CPI-M).

Kurien said, “change is unchangeable thing” but added that since “every member is this House is a politician”, no one was retiring as no politician retires.

Terming it an occasion to celebrate, Kurien said the members’ “contribution in the annals of Rajya Sabha history will be painted in golden words”. He wished luck to members.

Jaitley, the Finance Minister, said membership of the House is an honour as the members are part of ‘history in the making’.

Members of this House bring wisdom with them and are not carried away with impulses, he said, adding the Upper House has high quality of debate and “despite political differences, the atmosphere has always been of mutual respect.”

Azad equated the clashes and sparring among members in the House to ‘saas-bahu’ (mother-in-law and daughter-in-law) fights.

“Often people ask me that ‘in the House you (ruling and opposition party members) fight but outside you are seen hobnobbing’. I reply that you should not take our fights seriously. It is like ‘Saas-Bahu’ who fight but live in the same House…,” Azad said drawing laughter from members.