A day after the BJP announced C P Radhakrishnan as the NDA candidate for vice-president, the opposition INDIA bloc met Monday to finalise its candidate for the contest. Sources said the Opposition has zeroed in on a couple of names and a final call would be taken Tuesday.
At the late evening meeting held at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence, NCP (SP) Sharad Pawar is learnt to have suggested the name of author Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. The DMK, another key constituent of the bloc, has suggested the name of former ISRO scientist and Padma Shri awardee M Annadurai.
With the NDA naming Radhakrishnan, a veteran BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, the DMK finds itself in a spot and is keen that the Opposition fields another leader from the state. Given that the NDA has the numbers to see Radhakrishnan to the post, the DMK fears that the BJP and AIADMK could use his election to vice-president as a poll issue in the Assembly polls next year.
Earlier in the day, BJP Tamil Nadu chief Nainar Nagendran declared the nomination of Radhakrishnan as “a moment of Tamil pride” and urged the DMK to “correct its historic blunder” of not supporting A P J Abdul Kalam for a second term as President.
Sources said some more names, including that of a former judge, were discussed, but consensus seems to be largely around either Tushar or Annadurai.
The TMC has been keen on a non-politician as Opposition candidate, and sources in the party said both the names were acceptable to it.
Annadurai served as programme director for Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 and the Mars Orbiter Mission.
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Top leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet again Tuesday noon to finalise the name, with sources saying Kharge will take a final call on the nominee for the September 9 elections.
In the previous election for the vice-president’s post, which was won by NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar, the TMC had abstained, claiming that the Opposition had decided to nominate Margaret Alva without consulting it. This time, however, all the Opposition parties aligned with INDIA seem to be on board to field a joint candidate.
The Tamil factor
With the NDA having fielded C P Radhakrishnan, a veteran BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, DMK is keen that the Opposition field a leader from the state. This could undercut any BJP-AIADMK attempt to cash in on Radhakrishnan’s election in the Assembly elections next year.
If Tushar Gandhi is fielded, he would be the second relative of Mahatma Gandhi to be nominated for the post. In 2017, the Opposition had fielded Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi as the candidate against NDA nominee M Venkaiah Naidu.
The Opposition’s decision to field a candidate against the NDA nominee is symbolic as the ruling alliance has the numerical strength to ensure an easy victory for Radhakrishnan.
