RSS hand in nomination
DC CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, JULY 17 The BJP on Monday officially announced its senior leader Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu, 68, a “farmer’s son”, as the NDA’s vice-presidential candidate for the August 5 election.
Mr Naidu’s name was announced by BJP president Amit Shah after the meeting of the party’s parliamentary board on Monday evening.
Mr Naidu, sources said, had a meeting with Mr Modi at Parliament House on Monday morning, where he was apparently told about the party and RSS’ decision to nominate him for the vice-president’s post.
The electoral college for the vice-presidential election consists of members of both Houses of Parliament, including the nominated members, which is currently at 786, as there are two vacancies each in both Houses. The numbers seem to favour Mr Naidu, with the ruling party claiming Mr Naidu will get more than 500 votes as the BJP-led NDA already has 338 members in the Lok Sabha. Though the NDA is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha, some non-NDA parties including AIADMK, BJD, TRS and YSRCP, which are already backing the NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, are also likely to vote in favour of Mr Naidu.
Though his name was officially announced by the BJP on Monday evening, Mr Naidu, who is well respected across party lines, was seen receiving congratulations from leaders of different parties in Parliament since the morning.
Associated with the Jan Sangh, the BJP’s former avatar, since the 1970s, Mr Naidu had closely worked with many Sangh Parivar stalwarts and party patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee and veteran leader L.K. Advani. He was also a Cabinet minister in the Vajpayee government. Having extensively travelled across the country for organisational activities, Mr Naidu played a key role in bringing the TDP into the NDA fold and in gaining TRS backing for the NDA presidential nominee.
Mr Naidu currently holds the portfolios of information and broadcasting and housing and urban affairs. He was also parliamentary affairs minister earlier in the Modi government.