Ravi Prakash Verma, SP MP, Uttar pradesh
While most MPs were roaring up and down the aisle of the Lok Sabha, hurling insults at each other debating the cash-for-vote scam, one man grimaced watching the tamasha sitting in his North Avenue flat. Says Ravi Prakash Verma, whose family has sent MPs for 10 out of all the 14 Lok Sabhas: “When Atal Behari Vajpayee’s NDA turned turtle, defeated by one vote, I had been offered Rs 10 crore for my vote. People do not know that I had rudely sent
back the man who had come with the money.”
Becoming an MP has become a habit with the members of late Bal Govind Verma, Ravi’s father. He himself had been MP four times, his wife thrice and Ravi Prakash himself is in his third consecutive term. But though his father had been a minister, Ravi Prakash never went to school in a red beacon vehicle. He used to walk to and back from school. His school uniforms were never bought, rather, his once-MP mother used to stitch them for little Ravi. During his college days at Allahabad University, he like any other normal student stayed in a rented house, and cooked his own meals. And even now, there hasn’t been much change in his lifestyle. Unlike politicos who appoint PAs the second day after being sworn in as MPs, Ravi has none. It is possible that if you ring the bell at his door, his wife would open it, not some liveried servant. Most often he travels to the Parliament in the pool bus meant for members. He remains what his father was, a firm believer of socialist ideals of Acharya Narendra Dev. “I have bought no property during my tenure as MP,” he categorically told TSI. “Yes, I have property, but that is ancestral. For a living I farm my land. Indeed, he does not think of himself as a politician, but rather an intellectual. In fact, he came into politics to stop his mother from being duped by unscrupulous people. “After father’s demise, mother became an MP, but since she was not well-educated, people ripped her. So to help her with her paperwork, I returned home from Delhi, now here I am!” he smiles gently....Continue
While most MPs were roaring up and down the aisle of the Lok Sabha, hurling insults at each other debating the cash-for-vote scam, one man grimaced watching the tamasha sitting in his North Avenue flat. Says Ravi Prakash Verma, whose family has sent MPs for 10 out of all the 14 Lok Sabhas: “When Atal Behari Vajpayee’s NDA turned turtle, defeated by one vote, I had been offered Rs 10 crore for my vote. People do not know that I had rudely sent
back the man who had come with the money.”Becoming an MP has become a habit with the members of late Bal Govind Verma, Ravi’s father. He himself had been MP four times, his wife thrice and Ravi Prakash himself is in his third consecutive term. But though his father had been a minister, Ravi Prakash never went to school in a red beacon vehicle. He used to walk to and back from school. His school uniforms were never bought, rather, his once-MP mother used to stitch them for little Ravi. During his college days at Allahabad University, he like any other normal student stayed in a rented house, and cooked his own meals. And even now, there hasn’t been much change in his lifestyle. Unlike politicos who appoint PAs the second day after being sworn in as MPs, Ravi has none. It is possible that if you ring the bell at his door, his wife would open it, not some liveried servant. Most often he travels to the Parliament in the pool bus meant for members. He remains what his father was, a firm believer of socialist ideals of Acharya Narendra Dev. “I have bought no property during my tenure as MP,” he categorically told TSI. “Yes, I have property, but that is ancestral. For a living I farm my land. Indeed, he does not think of himself as a politician, but rather an intellectual. In fact, he came into politics to stop his mother from being duped by unscrupulous people. “After father’s demise, mother became an MP, but since she was not well-educated, people ripped her. So to help her with her paperwork, I returned home from Delhi, now here I am!” he smiles gently....Continue
