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March 19, 1998

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ELECTIONS '96

Ram Naik is the Bombay railway commuter's voice in Parliament

A seasoned parliamentarian, Ram Naik, who was sworn in as minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government today, has won the Lok Sabha elections from the Bombay North constituency four consecutive times.

Chief whip of BJP's parliamentary party in the 11th Lok Sabha, Naik today stands taller than most of his Maratha rivals by securing a thumping, 75,017 vote win -- the largest in Bombay in the 1998 election.

Before his parliamentary debut, he had been returned to the Maharashtra legislative assembly three times in a row from Borivili. He won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, 1991, 1996 and 1998 from the Bombay North constituency.

Naik went to school at Atpadi, a backward town in Sangli district of Maharashtra and worked his way to college, earning a B Com degree from Pune. He also graduated in law while working as a clerk in the office of the accountant general. Later, he worked as a company secretary with Khira group of industries but gave up the job to become the organising secretary of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1969, and thus became a full-time public worker.

During the Emergency, Naik was involved in organising the people against the Indira Gandhi government. Later, when the Janata Party was formed, he was elected its first president for the city.

Naik also worked with distinction as the chairman, public accounts committee during 1995-96. In the 11th Lok Sabha he discharged various responsibilities such as convenor of the study group for metropolitan suburban railways of the parliamentary standing committee.

He was also a member of the joint parliamentary committee on the securities scam and 33 per cent reservation for women's bill, chairman of parliamentary catering committee and member of the committee to review the deep sea fishing policy on foreign joint ventures and of the study group for aqua-culture farms in coastal states.

Naik, as 'a commuters' man', has been championing the cause of Bombay's suburban railway commuters, both inside and outside Parliament.

The introduction of Vande Mataram in the House proceedings, sanction of Rs 10 million MP local area development fund and the use of 'Mumbai' in English and Hindi instead of 'Bombay' and 'Bambai' are some of his achievements, besides the introduction and passing of a private member's bill on the promotion of breast feeding and ban on baby food advertisements.

UNI

Elections '98

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