Oppn Picks Ex-SC Judge Sudershan Reddy for VP Post
INDIA fields Sudershan Reddy, NDA nominates Radhakrishnan as VP race heats up
New Delhi: Opposition parties on Tuesday announced former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy as their joint candidate for the September 9 Vice-Presidential polls. His rival is the BJP-led NDA’s nominee and Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, who hails from Tamil Nadu, making it a ‘South versus South’ contest.
Reddy, the first Telangana-born contestant of the V-P poll, is a former judge of the Supreme Court and the first Lokayukta of Goa. He is also on the Board of Trustees of the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre in Hyderabad.
Announcing the decision of the opposition parties, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called the upcoming election for the country's second-highest office an "ideological battle".
Reading out a joint statement of the Opposition parties, Kharge said that Sudershan Reddy reflected the values that shaped India freedom movement profoundly and the values on which our country's Constitution and democracy have been anchored. “All these values are under assault and therefore, our collective and determined resolve to fight this election," Kharge said, reading out the joint statement.
"Whenever democracy and the Constitution are under attack, Opposition parties unite to fight against it. So we have decided to field a good candidate in this election," he said.
According to Trinamul Congress’ Derek O'Brien O'Brien, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had recently left the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, is also supporting Reddy.
The joint opposition would meet in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan (old Parliament building) on Wednesday afternoon. Reddy will file his nomination on August 21.
Born in July 1946 in Akula Mylaram on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Reddy was appointed as a permanent judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on May 2, 1995, and the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on December 5, 2005. He became a Supreme Court judge on January 12, 2007, and retired on July 8, 2011. He was enrolled as an advocate in Hyderabad with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh on December 27, 1971.
Reddy would be the second Telugu to contest vice-presidential elections since Independence after M. Venkaiah Naidu. He would be the third person to fight the vice-president elections after Zakir Hussain, later elected President, and Venkaiah Naidu to have been born in Telugu states.
He would be the first person, who was born and raised in a Telangana village, to contest the Vice-President election. Though President Hussain was born in Hyderabad, he was raised in Uttar Pradesh.
The Opposition's move to nominate an eminent Telugu creates a dilemma for the N. Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam, a key ally of the BJP at the Centre, and Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress, which has a significant number of MPs in the Rajya Sabha. Being the first Telangana person to contest the Vice-President election, Reddy’s nomination could also influence the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which has four members in the Rajya Sabha.
Both the major parties from Andhra Pradesh have already announced support for the NDA candidate, while the BRS has not opened its cards yet. However, Reddy’s candidature complicates the political equations for all the three non-Congress parties from Telugu states.
Former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy will be the first Telangana-born candidate for the Vice-Presidential election.
He was born in Akula Mylaram on the outskirts of Hyderabad in July 1946.
He served as a judge in the Andhra Pradesh and Gauhati High Courts before being elevated to the Supreme Court.
He would be the second Telugu to contest the V-P elections since Independence, after M. Venkaiah Naidu.
He is also the third V-P poll contestant to be born in the Telugu states after Zakir Hussain, later elected President, and Venkaiah Naidu.
Zakir Hussain was born in Hyderabad and raised in Uttar Pradesh.
