A FRIEND OF TS, AP

M.Venkaiah Naidu has been nominated as the NDA’s candidate for the vice-president’s election, which is scheduled to be conducted on August 5.

MPs of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha vote to elect the Vice-President, who is ranked higher than the Prime Minister in the order of precedence.

According to an estimate, Mr Naidu enjoys a committed support of 485 of the 788 members of the electoral college.

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Gopalakrishna Gandhi has been fielded a candidate by combined opposition parties.

While Mr Naidu’s allbut-certain elevation has been widely hailed, the two Telugu states will miss a friend, guide and philosopher.

As the Vice-President, Mr Naidu will be bound by certain regulations and cannot directly do anything to benefit the Telugu states. Mr Naidu has energetically propounded the cause of the two new states that were created in 2014 and guided them through their baby steps.

Three years ago, he summoned all the 30-odd Union Cabinet ministers to his chambers including seniors like Mr Rajnath Singh, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr Sushma Swaraj and asked them to implement various promises given to the Telugu states under the AP Reorganisation Act.

I would like to assure the people that, on being elected, I will uphold the standards set by the worthy predecessors — VENKAIAH

NAIDU