 "Who is B Sudershan Reddy, the Opposition's VP candidate? What are his chances of winning?")
The suspense is over.
The Opposition India bloc has chosen its candidate for the vice-presidential election – ex-Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy. Reddy will go up against National Democratic Alliance pick CP Radhakrishnan, who is the governor of Maharashtra.
The development comes in the aftermath of the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice-President of India. Though Dhankhar has claimed he has resigned for medical reasons, many have been speculating that he has been forced to step down by an unhappy BJP.
The vice-presidential polls are slated to occur on September 9. The last date for submitting nominations is August 21, while August 22 is the date for the scrutiny and August 25 is the last date for the withdrawal of candidatures. Radhakrishnan is set to file his candidacy this evening. The vice- president is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
“This vice-presidential contest is an ideological battle , and all the opposition parties agreed on this, and this is the reason we have nominated B Sudershan Reddy as the joint candidate,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said while announcing him as the Opposition pick.
“He has been a consistent and courageous champion of social, economic and political justice. He is a poor man, and many judgments, if you read, will know how he favoured the poor people and also protected the Constitution and fundamental rights,” Kharge added.
There are reports that the names of ex-ISRO scientist Mylswamy Annadurai and Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson and author Tushar Gandhi were also floated as the Opposition candidate.
But who is the 79-year-old Reddy? What do we know about him? What are his chances of winning?
Let’s take a closer look
Who is Reddy?
Reddy was born on July 8, 1946 in Ranga Reddy district of what is today Telangana. His village, Akula Mylaram, is located on the outskirts of Hyderabad in Telangana. Reddy, who hailed from a family of farmers, studied law at Osmania University. He graduating in 1971 and began his career as a lawyer that very year. At the time, he was 35-years-old.
Reddy mostly handed writ and civil cases during his time as a lawyer. From 1988 to 1990, he would go on to represent the government in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. He would later be chosen as president of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Advocates Association. He also served as Additional Standing Counsel for the central government in 1990. He was also the legal adviser and standing counsel for his alma mater Osmania University.
In 1993, at age 47, he would be appointed an additional judge in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Reddy was appointed Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court in 2005. By January 2007, Reddy was renowned as an eminent jurist – which is when he was appointed to India Supreme Court. Reddy served until his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2011.
In 2013, Reddy was appointed the first Lokayukta of Goa. However, a few months into his term he resigned citing personal reasons. He also served on the board of trustees in Hyderabad’s International Arbitration and Mediation Centre.
In April 2022, the Supreme Court appointed Reddy to monitor the Comprehensive Environmental Plan for Mining Impact Zone in Karnataka. The project fought to restore areas in the state that were depleted by excessive mining.
Then, in March, Reddy was approached by the Karnataka government to analyse the results of its caste survey. He was tasked with submitting a report to Chief Minister Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. This is when he is believed to have caught the eye of the Congress and when his name began coming up for consideration for more important roles.
What are his chances of winning?
It depends on the numbers game.
The numbers, as they stand, are squarely in the BJP’s favour. The Vice-President is chosen via the electoral college – which comprises the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The current electoral college stands at 782 members. To win the post of vice-president, a candidate must receive a simple majority plus one vote – that is 392 votes.
The BJP-led NDA currently has 422 members in Parliament– 293 in the Lok Sabha and another 133 in the Rajya Sabha. Meanwhile, the opposition India bloc – comprising the Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), AAP and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) – has around 300 seats in Parliament.
The INDIA bloc is also said to be preparing to reach out to Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress Party, which has 7 MPs in the Rajya Sabha and 5 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which also has 7 Rajya Sabha MPs, Has not confirmed it will support the BJP.
However even these additions to the Opposition tally does not bring it close to the magic mark. In short, this means that if the BJP-led NDA sticks together, Radhakrishnan should quite easily prevail. However, any possible defections within the NDA alliance could stymie Radhakrishnan’s candidacy.
Which is why the choice of Reddy could be intriguing. As noted before, both Radhakrishnan and Reddy are from the South. Which could create a conundrum for some regional parties within the alliance.
This is particularly true of the TDP. The N Chandrababu Naidu-led outfit remains a key ally of the BJP in the Centre and is currently in power in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu, who earlier hailed Radhakrishnan’s candidacy, is yet to react to Reddy’s nomination by the India bloc.
Even if Naidu and the TDP stick with the NDA candidate, it leaves them vulnerable to attacks from other regional parties such as the YSRCP in the state and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi of K Chandrashekar Rao in Telangana .
The attacks have already begun. While the BJP seemingly attempted to pressurise India bloc ally DMK by picking Radhakrishnan, the party is firing back. The DMK has refused to back Radhakrishnan’s candidacy on ideological grounds.
“We will give preference only to ideology. We cannot support Radhakrishnan merely on the grounds that he is Tamil. We have to look at what his ideologies are,” DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan has said.
“BJP has not done anything for Tamil or Tamil Nadu. The BJP-led union government has not approved Keezhadi excavation reports, has not released funds due to the state, and also is averse to the development of TN,” Elangovan added.
The party has dubbed this as an ideological battle.
“This is an ideological fight. So the Opposition parties came together to select one candidate against the candidate who comes from an RSS background. The candidate (Sudershan Reddy) the Opposition has selected is the one who respects the Constitution…Just because you (BJP) have a candidate from Tamil Nadu, doesn’t mean you care about Tamil Nadu, Tamil language or values of the state," said DMK MP Kanimozhi.
However, Reddy seems unbothered by notions of politics. He told NDTV was he was simply happy to be nominated for the post and for the chance to unite the country.
“My job is to offer my candidature, appeal to all members of Parliament to consider my candidature. Nobody can predict the result of any election. I don’t indulge in soothsaying or astrology.” Asked about the fact that both vice-presidential candidates are from the South, Reddy said “Incidentally, both of us are from the South. India is one. We are Indians first and Indians last.”
In truth, Radhakrishnan’s chances at being elected vice-president are slim. The Opposition India bloc is trying to play more of an optics game by nominating a ‘non-ideological’ candidate. The block wants to be seen to be giving the government a tough fight even if it ultimately fails to do so.
With inputs from agencies
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