As Minister of State for Defence, there are many things about his job that interest Mallipudi Mangapati Pallam Raju: the resettlement of ex-servicemen, for one. So his recent remarks about ex-servicemen protesting in public against the Pay Commission—it’s unbecoming on the part of dignified ex-servicemen.I don’t think they should be doing this”—caused a flutter. A day later, Raju says he “probably used the wrong words but the government is doing all it can for the welfare of ex-servicemen.” “Ex-servicemen have to be treated as a high-value resource. It is imperative for the government to create proper opportunities for them,” he says. Last year, he said, 65,000 ex-servicemen were provided jobs, both in the government as well as in the private sector, as against a target of 40,000.Raju would have been another of the thousands of Indian IT professionals working for foreign companies had it not been for former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Though he came from a political family—both his father M.S. Sanjeevi Rao and grandfather were Congress leaders—politics was not on the young Raju’s mind after he completed his engineering in electronics and communication and then got an MBA from Philadelphia. After a two-year stint with an IT company in Boston, Raju was working for another IT firm in Norway in 1988 when he was forced to come back to attend to his father who had suffered a stroke.With general elections just a year away and his father, a former union minister in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet, not in a position to contest, Rajiv Gandhi asked Raju to take on the Congress baton in their home town of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. Raju agreed and went on to win the elections to become the youngest MP of the ninth Lok Sabha. That started what can only be called an impressive political career.But Raju insists it has been an “up and down journey”. “There have been times when I have suffered because of politics but at no point of time have I regretted joining politics.” The ‘suffering’ Raju is alluding to was on account of internal politics which even resulted in the denial of a ticket from his home constituency on two occasions. But he has managed to ride through the difficult times and went on to occupy some key positions in the party and now in government. He is one of the very few Ministers of State who have made a deep impact on the functioning of the departments under them.“I apply myself sincerely to whatever responsibility I am assigned. I am one of those fortunate Ministers of State who are given a lot of freedom by their cabinet ministers. And I have tried to perform to the best of my ability,” he says.It was his good luck that the jobs assigned to him have been to his liking. “Somebody is watching me keenly,” he says explaining why he might have got jobs of his liking. He was chairman of the Science and Technology Cell and then head of Department of Policy Planning and Coordination in the AICC, both jobs involving his expertise in science, planning and management. In the Defence Ministry too, he is sought for his advice on ticklish issues of technical detail.As he points out, in matters related to defence, there is an increasing use of high-end electronics, something where he finds himself quite at ease. “In such discussions, I am glad that I have been able to contribute,” he says.All this while, Kakinada occupies a special place in his heart. Although his wife and children stay in Hyderabad, Raju’s father and a number of his close relatives continue to live in the coastal town of Kakinada. He makes frequent visits to the town where interacting with the people from his constituency has “helped me in learning a lot in politics”.Though a reluctant entrant, Raju is now in politics for the long haul. “I came here with some commitment and I want to stick here with the same commitment.”And he has absolute clarity about his vision. “I do not see myself as a politician. I would rather like myself to be known as a statesman”.
