BJP Plays Southern Card with CP Radhakrishnan as VP Candidate

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The BJP by picking up Radhakrishnan has played the South Card and made intent clear of taking the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections next year seriously

By TRH Political Desk

NEW DELHI, August 17, 2025 — Maharashtra Governor Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan bagged the nomination as the official nominee of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the election for the post of Vice President of India. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Jagat Prakash Nadda announced the decision after the party’s parliamentary board meeting on Sunday evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the meeting presided over by Nadda at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi. Radhakrishnan, 68, is currently serving as Governor of Maharashtra. He had previously also held charge of Jharkhand Governor. A CV of Radhakrishnan shared in the BJP circle wrote OBC at the top for him.

Radhakrishnan has given the BJP a major victory in Tamil Nadu in 1998 by winning the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat. He had retained the constituency in the next election also. Radhakrishnan unsuccessfully contested elections subsequently but showed his appeal by winning strong vote base.

The BJP by picking up Radhakrishnan has played the South Card and made intent clear of taking the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections next year seriously. Incidentally, Radhakrishnan is credited as an architect of an alliance with the AIADMK.

Radhakrishnan also has a legacy with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) as a volunteer from young age. His name is likely to resonate well with the RSS, the ideological parent of the BJP.

The NDA allies have extended their support to the BJP’s decision for the election of the post of the Vice President, which will be held on September 9. The election is being held after Jagdeep Dhankar quit the post under mysterious circumstances.

Radhakrishnan had also served in the past as the Tamil Nadu unit chief of the BJP. He also had been the BJP’s state in-charge for Kerala. The BJP is eying Kerala and Tamil Nadu for ideological and electoral expansion in near future.

The Prime Minister has frequently been visiting Tamil Nadu to warm up the BJP’s poll pot. Radhakrishnan is likely to sail through in the VP election comfortably as the NDA enjoys comfortable majority in the electoral college.

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