NDA picks Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan as VP candidate
NEW DELHI: The BJP-led NDA has picked Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan as the ruling alliance’s candidate for the post of Vice President, weeks after the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“He has a 40-year experience in politics and wore many hats,” said BJP chief JP Nadda, making the announcement on Sunday evening after a meeting with NDA allies.
Radhakrishnan has also served as the Governor of Jharkhand (2023-24) and held additional charge of Puducherry and Telangana. He has been a two-term MP from Coimbatore and headed the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, emerging as one of the
tallest leaders of the party from the state. The Vice Presidential election is scheduled for September 9, and the last date of nomination is August 22.
The decision on the Vice-President candidate was taken by the BJP’s Parliamentary Board, the highest decision making body of the party at a meeting which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
Party president JP Nadda told the media that the decision to nominate 68-year-old Radhakrishnan was taken after “extensive discussions with the NDA partners”.
He said senior leaders of the BJP had also reached out to the Opposition parties to support the NDA’s nominee. “The Opposition leaders conveyed to us that their decision to support the nominee will depend on the candidate. We are hopeful that the VP will be elected by consensus,” Nadda said.
With his Tamil heritage and background, the BJP is sending multiple signals as Tamil Nadu is due for assembly polls next year. The BJP has been trying to carve out a political space in Tamil Nadu in particular and Southern states in general and the choice of Radhakrishnan is expected to send a positive signal to the people. It is also likely to stump the two Dravidian parties - the ruling DMK and the Opposition AIADMK - which have so far ruled the state, maintaining a dominance in the political landscape of the state. Radhakrishnan, 67, lost three consecutive Lok Sabha elections from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu after his two successive wins in 1998 and 1999, but he is said to be held in high esteem across party lines in Tamil Nadu, resulting in the BJP giving him multiple governor positions.
Being an OBC leader, his candidature also seeks to disarm the Opposition of a key political narrative. Born on October 20, 1957, in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.
Starting as an RSS Swayamsevak at the age of 16, he became a State Executive Committee Member of the Bharatiya Janasangh in 1974.
In 1996, Radhakrishnan was appointed the Secretary of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Coimbatore in 1998. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999.
During his tenure as an MP, he served as chairman and member of various parliamentary committees, including one investigating the stock market scam.
Between 2004 and 2007, Radhakrishnan served as the state president of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. In this role, he undertook a 19,000 km ‘Ratha Yatra’ that lasted for 93 days.
The Yatra was organised to highlight his demands for the linking of all Indian rivers, eradicating terrorism, implementing a uniform civil code, removing untouchability and combating the menace of narcotic drugs, some of the key planks of the BJP and RSS. From 2020 to 2022, he was the all-India in-charge of the BJP for Kerala.
An avid sportsperson, Radhakrishnan was a college champion in table tennis and a long-distance runner. He is said to be instrumental in forming the new alliance for the BJP in Tamil Nadu in 2004 after the DMK ended its ties with the NDA.
