New Delhi: CP Radhakrishnan, Maharashtra Governor and NDA’s nominee for Vice President, landed in Delhi on Monday morning and later met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was greeted at the airport by a group of senior ministers, including Kiren Rijiju, Pralhad Joshi, Bhupender Yadav, Ram Mohan Naidu, and Delhi CM Rekha Gupta. By evening, the BJP veteran will be introduced to NDA MPs as the ruling alliance prepares for the 9 September election.
Before leaving Mumbai, Radhakrishnan visited Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The announcement came on Sunday, when BJP president JP Nadda declared Radhakrishnan as the alliance’s choice after the party’s parliamentary board gave unanimous approval. At 68, he brings decades of political experience, having served twice in the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore and held gubernatorial posts in Jharkhand, Telangana, and Puducherry.
‘Another RSS man’
However, CP Radhakrishna’s nomination was not welcomed by everyone. The Congress dismissed the nomination, labelling him “another RSS man.”
INDIA bloc leaders argued that the ruling party had once again leaned on its Sangh Parivar roots to fill a top constitutional role. Both the Congress and Trinamool Congress underlined his RSS background, while the NDA countered that Radhakrishnan is widely respected as a soft-spoken, consensus-driven figure.
Meanwhile, INDIA bloc is still deliberating on a “consensus” candidate to field in the Vice Presidential elections.
Who is CP Radhakrishnan?
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan is the 24th Governor of Maharashtra, a role he assumed in July 2024. Before that, he served in Jharkhand from February 2023 to July 2024, with additional charge of Telangana and Puducherry. His party colleagues recall his beginnings as a swayamsevak in the 1970s. Over the years, he climbed the ranks, eventually heading the Tamil Nadu BJP in 2004.
A keen sportsman in his youth, he played table tennis and ran long-distance races. In political circles, he is sometimes called the “Vajpayee of Coimbatore”, a reference to his ability to win trust across party lines. He remains the only BJP leader from Tamil Nadu to win the Lok Sabha seat twice, in 1998 and 1999.