People should be careful while electing a leader: Vice-Prez

: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said people should be careful about the four Cs'- Caste, Community, Cash and Criminality- before selecting a political leader.

Participating in the 50th anniversary of 'Thuglak' magazine here, he said, "I would like to tell the people in public life that people should respect the leaders and select and elect the leaders on the basis of Character, Calibre, Capacity and Conduct. The four Cs".

"Unfortunately, now a days, some people are trying to replace those 4Cs by other 4Cs which is Caste, Community, Cash and then Criminality. We have to be careful about this," he added.

Naidu cautioned that democracy would lose its value if people decide on the basis of Caste, Community, Cash or Criminality which he said "was happening in certain times".

"We Indians are largest democracy in the world and will be doing great disservice (to the nation) if you are carried (away) by that. You need politicians with discipline and devotion," he said.

Earlier, he advised the media to introspect before giving news and curb any trend that affects its "credibility".

"There has to be healthy competition and media should not mix news with views of the organisation. I am of the opinion that media should introspect very seriously. I am not saying this paper, that paper. All (media)," he said.

Noting that politics, medical profession, journalism and education were treated as 'missions' in the early days, he said, "of late, in every field some people started making it for commission and doing many omissions."