BJP Names Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as NDA’s Vice President Candidate

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday named Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate for the upcoming Vice Presidential election. The announcement came after a BJP Parliamentary Board meeting convened to finalize the ruling alliance’s choice for the constitutional post.

If elected, Radhakrishnan, a veteran BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, will succeed Jagdeep Dhankhar, who unexpectedly resigned as Vice President last month citing health reasons. According to sources, Radhakrishnan is expected to attend the NDA Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday to formalise his nomination. Earlier in the day, he was seen visiting the Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai for darshan.

Chandrapuram Ponnuswamy Radhakrishnan, born in Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, in 1957, has had a long and varied political career rooted in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He has held several gubernatorial posts, taking charge as the Governor of Maharashtra on July 31, 2024.

Prior to this, he served as the Governor of Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024, and briefly held additional charges as the Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry in 2024. A prominent face for the BJP in the south, he represented Coimbatore in the Lok Sabha for two consecutive terms in 1998 and 1999 and also served as the party’s Tamil Nadu state president from 2003 to 2006.

The nomination comes ahead of the Vice Presidential election scheduled for September 9, as announced by the Election Commission of India earlier this month. The poll was necessitated by Jagdeep Dhankhar’s surprising resignation immediately after chairing the first day of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session.

The abrupt departure triggered widespread speculation in political circles, with the opposition questioning the official reason. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh remarked that there might be “far more” to the resignation “than meets the eye,” revealing that he had spoken to the 74-year-old Dhankhar just hours before the news broke and found no indication of immediate concerns. Radhakrishnan’s selection is seen as a strategic move by the BJP to reward a loyal party veteran and further strengthen its outreach in Southern India.