New Delhi: The BJP parliamentary board on Sunday nominated Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan as the NDA candidate for vice-president.
Announcing the nomination, BJP president J P Nadda said a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Naredra Modi decided Radhakrishnan’s name after an extensive deliberation.
Nadda hoped the opposition parties will support the NDA candidate.
The vice-presidential election, necessitated by the resignation of incumbent Jagdeep Dhankhar last month, is scheduled for September 9. The last date for filing nomination is August 22.
Starting as an RSS Swayamsevak, Radhakrishnan 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 the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Textiles. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the Consultative Committee for Finance. He was a member of the Parliamentary Special Committee investigating the Stock Exchange Scam.
In 2004, Radhakrishnan addressed the UN General Assembly as part of the Parliamentary delegation. He was also a member of the first Parliamentary delegation to Taiwan.
Between 2004 and 2007, he 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. He also led two more padayatras for different causes.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was sworn in as the Governor of Maharashtra on 31st July 2024. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Governor of Jharkhand for nearly one-and-a-half years. As the Governor of Jharkhand, Radhakrishnan was appointed by the President of India to discharge the functions of the Governor of Telangana and as the Lt. Governor of Puducherry.
With more than four decades’ experience, he is a respected name in the polity and public life of Tamil Nadu.