NDA picks Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as vice-president candidate

New Delhi: Maharashta Governor Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, a seasoned BJP leader from Tamil Nadu with an RSS background, was on Sunday named the vice-presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

BJP president J P Nadda made the announcement following a meeting of the party's parliamentary board, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and consulting the party's allies.

Nadda appealed for unanimous election of Radhakrishnan (67), an OBC leader and two-time former member of Lok Sabha, to the constitutional position, saying the BJP leaders had spoken to the opposition parties last week and will continue to do so.

The opposition leaders had told the BJP interlocutors that they can make up their mind only after being told of the ruling alliance's nominee, Nadda said, adding that his party will reach out to them again.

Due to the comfortable majority of the BJP and its allies in the electoral college, comprising Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, Radhakrishnan's election is all but certain, and the party hopes that his elevation will help it make fresh inroads in Tamil Nadu, where elections are due next year.

Radhakrishnan belongs to the influential Gounder caste, an OBC community, in Tamil Nadu.

Nadda emphasised on his nearly 40 years in public life, noting that he is well regarded in different parties and commands respect among various sections of society.

"He is considered a statesman," Nadda said of the former Coimbatore MP who was made the Jharkhand governor in 2023 and then shifted to Maharashtra in July 2024.

Unlike his predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was also a governor like him before being named as the NDA's vice-presidential nominee in 2022, Radhakrishnan has refrained from cultivating a public profile on political issues and skirted any controversy.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, sources said, will oversee the vice-presidential election, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju will be the polling agent.

The last date for filing nomination is August 21.

Chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of the BJP-led alliance will to be part of Radhakrishnan's nomination-filing exercise, besides the prime minister and Union ministers.

If the Opposition also names its candidate, the election will be held on September 9.