A Safe Pair of Hands

BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP) president JP Nadda’s August 17 announcement that 68-year-old CP Radhakrishnan will be the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) candidate for vice president follow­ing the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar did surprise. There was no premature leak but the choice was along anticipated lines un­like BJP’s chief ministerial picks, including the most recent one in Delhi. After the controversial exit of Dhankhar who fell out with the BJP leadership in spectacular fashion, it was clear that the next vice president would have a strong Sangh background and be seen as a safe pair of hands.

If there is one thing about Radhakrishnan’s political career that standsoutitisthatheisastaunchpartymanandisunlikelytoindulge in the grandstanding that Dhankhar did, which in the end proved to be his undoing. A man of simple tastes, Radhakrishnan has battled against adverse conditions in Tamil Nadu where he was state party chief much before BJP gained its current salience. Having worked with party patriarchs like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, Radhakrishnan is fully conversant with party ethos and well in­formed about its genesis and emergence on the national centrestage.

A two-term MP who represented Coimbatore, a bustling textile and education hub, in 1998 and 1999, Radhakrishnan lost subse­quent Lok Sabha elections but this was not entirely his fault. BJP did benefit from its alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in 1998 and then with the Dravida Munne­tra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1999 and the party found the going difficult once the latter left its alliance. Radhakrishnan was an apt candidate in 1998 in the aftermath of the bombing that shook the city with a jihadist plot allegedly targeting a rally Advani was to address.

In his role as chairman of Rajya Sabha, Radhakrishnan is not likely to be as in-your-face as his predecessor but he will not hesi­tate to ensure that government business finds precedence. In fact, the claim that Dhankhar somehow brought the impartial post of the presiding officer into disrepute is overcooked. No presiding officer can ever pass the test of impartiality set by the Opposi­tion that has become more aggressive and uncaring of the rules of parliamentary practice. Even otherwise, presiding officers are not ‘neutral’ and claims to this effect reflect an inadequate under­standing of how Parliament functions.

The Lok Sabha speaker and Rajya Sabha chairman cannot function without the support and cooperation of the govern­ment. They can balance things by allowing the Opposition to have its say but they cannot, for example, accept a notice if the government disagrees. In the end they need to get the govern­ment’s business done, either through debate and discussion if that is possible or amid disruptions that are increasingly the order of the day. What can be expected once Radhakrishnan is in the chair is a sense of patience that might help calm emotions that have run high on both sides of the aisle.

Radhakrishnan’s experience as a practising politician and a former governor can help him communicate with the Opposi­tion but the room for action is limited given the highly adversarial relations between the government and its critics. The penchant of some Opposition MPs to take recourse to strong-arm tactics while disrupting positions and the rising resentment on BJP benches make Rajya Sabha a tough House to handle. The new incumbent will be tested and needs all his experience of Parliament to meet the demands of the hot seat.

The electoral college for the vice president’s election is the two Houses and NDA commands a comfortable 422 votes of the current 782 members. The I.N.D.I.A. bloc announced former Supreme Court judge B Sudarshan Reddy as its pick and argued that its fight is ideological. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Justice Reddy stood for social and political justice. The Opposition argued that he represents the voice of constitu­tionalism that they claim has been eroded under NDA.

BJP’s decision to pick Radhakrishnan, apart from his creden­tials as a party man, is driven by the assessment that his eleva­tion would provide traction in Tamil Nadu where the next As­sembly election is due in April-May 2026. His Other Backward Classes (OBC) background would give teeth to BJP’s claim that its commitment to Tamil Nadu is real and demonstrable. The vice presidential choice would, it is felt, provide more heft to several development projects that the Centre has sanctioned in the state. Having allied with AIAD­MK for the upcoming election, Radhakrishnan would be the right choice. Once elected, his official duties could facilitate visits to the state to take part in programmes and launch projects.

DMK has unequivocally backed Justice Reddy, ignoring the argument that Radhakrishnan would represent state pride. For­mer AIADMK leader V Maitreyan, who recently switched sides, said voters will not be swayed by such appeals to Tamil identity. “What matters is the Centre’s attitude to­wards Tamil Nadu and this is man­ifest in its refusal to release funds and act as a brake on the DMK gov­ernment. That won’t change with Radhakrishnan’s candidature,” he told Open. The DMK decision, despite brief speculation in the me­dia, is not surprising. DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has taken a strong oppo­sitional stance towards BJP and has allied closely with Congress. There was no reason he would break with the rest of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc over opposing the NDA candidate.

But non-I.N.D.I.A. Opposition parties are another matter. Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy agreed to back Radhakrishnan and the YSR Congress Party’s (YS­RCP) four MPs will vote with NDA. There was some discussion about the stance of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav)’s position given that Radhakrishnan was Maharashtra governor before his name was announced for the vice president’s post. In the past, the late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had supported Congress candidate Pratibha Patil for president in 2007 on grounds that she was a Ma­harashtrian. This time, senior Uddhav Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the party felt the vice president’s post should not be politicised but added that the party would go along with the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.

The election is due on September 9 and despite the political exchanges between the two sides, Radhakrishnan’s election as India’s next vice president is a done deal. With it BJP will look to close an unhappy chapter that began with the decision to pick Dhankhar as the NDA vice presidential candidate in 2022. The choice was founded in Dhankhar’s rural-agricultural back­ground and was seen as due representation for the Jat com­munity that has had an off-and-on relationship with BJP. His combative record as West Bengal governor, where he was often at odds with Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was a factor in his favour.

While Dhankhar misread the limits of his post and forgot how he had reached the high office, BJP will look to a period of steady stewardship in Rajya Sabha. Dhankhar’s frequent scraps with Opposition leaders made for frequent headlines, but his conduct of the House was seen as overbearing by BJP leaders as well who felt he intervened much more than he needed to. Radhakrishnan was introduced to the NDA parliamentary group on August 19 and received the alliance’s thumping endorsement. It was evident from the time Dhankhar resigned at the start of the Monsoon Session that BJP’s partners had left the choice of his suc­cessor to the party and had no conditions to present.

Contrary to expectations in some quarters, BJP allies like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), have focused on their respective state agendas rather than bothering much with Central policies or getting embroiled in the ‘secular-communal’ politics that continuously plays out between BJP and I.N.D.I.A.

The next big test for NDA is the Bihar Assembly election due at the end of the year, and the convergence between BJP and JD(U) on supporting the Election Commission’s (EC) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state electoral rolls is a good indication that NDA is marching in lockstep.

As things stand, no NDA member finds it viable to be outside the alliance. This is evident in the firm backing Radhakrishnan’s candidature has received. Once he is elected, the presidential and vice presidential offices will once again be occupied by leaders with a BJP background.

Amit ShahCP RadhakrishnanNarendra ModiNext vice presidentOBCRajnath SinghTamil Nadu