NDA nominee for VP known to be affable
NEW DELHI/Mumbai, Aug. 19 -- Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) nominee for the upcoming vice-presidential elections, was picked after detailed discussions with alliance partners, and the party's ideological fount, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), people familiar with the details said on Sunday.
The 68-year-old BJP leader who is rooted in RSS ideology is known in the party as a soft-spoken, non-controversial figure, who is also the only BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, to have been elected to the Lok Sabha twice in 1998 and 1999. Currently the governor of Maharashtra, a position he has held since July 31, 2024, Radhakrishnan, an OBC from the Goundar-Kongu Vellalar community, was born in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu.
People close to Raj Bhavan said the Maharashtra governor was sounded out about his possible candidature on Sunday afternoon, after which he paid a visit to the famous Siddhivinayak temple to seek blessings of the deity.
Party leaders welcomed his nomination, describing him as an "excellent choice for the role", because of his "pragmatic, straightforward and clean image".
His nomination for the VP's post is also being read as the party's attempts to strengthen its outreach and footprint in the southern region, particularly in Tamil Nadu....
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