"His life was a unique case of a public figure who rose from the chairmanship of a village panchayat to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. He rose literally from the soil of Jamkhandi in Bagalkot District where he started his public life as chairman of a village panchayat, and his was another name for simplicity and humility."

“My government pledges itself to fulfill in every way the mandate given to it by the people. In doing so, it will not take the people for granted or assume they know nothing and that the government alone knows all answers and solutions. The traumatic experience of the last two years during which many atrocities were committed on the people and they had to undergo untold sufferings and some have even died, has brought home the relevance of this.”

“His acting presidency was not without controversy. When in April 1977, the then Union Home Minister, Charan Singh, took the debatable decision to dissolve the Assemblies of nine States, he declined to sign the order, and broke the tradition of the President accepting the advice of the Cabinet. Though he later signed the order, he took the stand that the Centre's action should not only be politically and constitutionally correct but also appear to be proper.”

“Religious he was but bigot, he was not. Some of us in the family turned into Shirdi Saibaba devotees and he did not demur.”

“A deeply religious man, he was the founder president of the "Basava Samithi", a religious organisation which propagated the preaching of 12th century saint, philosopher and Hindu reformer Basaveshwara. He was also involved in various organizations concerned with social activities in his tenure as governor and he was a greet help in building Karnataka Nilayam for Devotees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry, and also helped Sri Aurobindo Study centers in Karnataka.”

“He was elected Vice-President of India on October 31, 1972. During the interregnum of the death of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and the election of N. Sanjiva Reddy as President, he acted as President.”

“I now come to external relations. My government will honour all the commitments made by the previous government. It stands for friendship with all our neighbours and other nations of the world on the basis of equality and reciprocity and will follow a path of genuine non-alignment.”