VP Elections: NDA’s vice-presidential nominee reaches Delhi, meets PM Modi
INDIA bloc leaders to meet at Kharge’s residence to discuss joint VP candidate
New Delhi: Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan arrived in the national capital on Monday and met leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after he was named as its vice-presidential candidate.
A host of Union ministers, including the BJP’s Bhupender Yadav, Pralhad Joshi and Kiren Rijiju and the TDP’s K Ram Mohan Naidu, received Radhakrishnan here, ahead of a host of meetings the NDA has planned in connection with his campaign.
Later in the evening, the vice-presidential candidate attended a meeting of NDA leaders where he was felicitated.
Official sources said Radhakrishnan may file his nomination on August 20, with chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of several states ruled by the BJP and its allies expected to be part of the exercise besides Modi and many of his Cabinet colleagues.
After the former Tamil Nadu BJP president and two-term ex-Lok Sabha MP met him, Modi said on X, “Met Thiru CP Radhakrishnan Ji. Conveyed my best wishes on his being the NDA’s vice-presidential nominee.”
“His long years of public service and experience across domains will greatly enrich our nation. May he continue to serve the nation with the same dedication and resolve he has always demonstrated,” the prime minister said.
The NDA’s numerical superiority has made Radhakrishnan’s victory a certainty. But the ruling alliance’s managers are in overdrive to consolidate maximum support in his favour to send out a political statement amid indications by the INDIA bloc parties that it will force a contest by naming its own candidate.
The NDA received a boost after former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress Party, one of the few parties not aligned to either of the two rival blocs, extended its support to Radhakrishnan’s candidature.
The regional party has 11 MPs in Parliament, whose members make up the electoral college for the VP election. Union minister Rajnath Singh, who is overseeing the campaign and has reached out to different parties, had spoken to Reddy, sources said.
The BJP is also eying support from two other unaligned regional parties, Odisha’s BJD and Telangana’s BRS, and some Independents. A source said they are hopeful of getting support from over 440 MPs in the electoral college of 781 members.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders will meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to discuss a joint candidate for the vice-president’s post.
Defence Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh has also reached out to the leaders of some opposition parties, including Kharge, who is the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, for unanimously electing the new vice-president.
Sources said the opposition wants to field a non-political face who has national standing and stature for the second-highest constitutional position in the country.
The sources said senior DMK leaders have proposed the name of an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist, who hails from Tamil Nadu and is well respected, for the vice-president’s post.
The name of senior DMK leader Tiruchi Siva is also doing the rounds, but discussions are yet to be held with other opposition leaders.
Siva, however, refused to comment, saying his leadership will take a call on the issue.
NDA nominee C P Radhakrishnan hails from Tamil Nadu, which will go to polls in 2026.
Senior leaders, including Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, are likely to attend the meeting, which comes a day after the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) announced Maharashtra Governor Radhakrishnan as its nominee for the vice-president’s post.
The sources added that other senior leaders, including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, could join the deliberations online, while other senior leaders like Akhilesh Yadav are likely to attend it in person.
While the ruling BJP feels that the nomination of Radhakrishnan, a seasoned leader with an RSS background, will elicit support from the wider opposition, especially the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, it remains to be seen what stand the opposition parties take.
BJP president J P Nadda, while announcing the nomination of Radhakrishnan after a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board on Sunday, said the NDA will speak to the opposition parties to arrive at a consensus for the vice-presidential election.
The Congress-led INDIA bloc earlier announced its decision to field a joint “non-political” candidate for the election.
The vice-presidential election, necessitated by the sudden resignation of incumbent Jagdeep Dhankhar last month, is scheduled for September 9. The last date for filing nominations is August 21.
