Ranchi Welcomes Opposition Vice-Presidential Candidate B Sudershan Reddy For Discussions With Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren And Party Leaders

Ranchi: Opposition candidate for vice presidential polls, B Sudershan Reddy, arrived in Ranchi on Saturday to hold meeting with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and INDIA bloc leaders.

Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge, was welcomed at the airport by Congress leaders and workers, including Jharkhand Congress president Keshav Mahato Kamlesh, minister Dipika Pandey Singh and Lohardaga MP Sukhdev Bhagat.

"He will visit Circuit House and then proceed to CM residence at around 3.45 pm, where he will meet the chief minister, members of Parliament and leaders, followed by a press conference," a Congress office-bearer said.

The stage is set for a direct contest between ruling NDA nominee CP Radhakrishnan and joint opposition candidate Reddy for the September 9 vice-presidential election, in what is being described as a "south versus south" battle as both hail from south India.

While Radhakrishnan is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran from Tamil Nadu, Reddy is a former Supreme Court judge who hails from Telangana.

The vice-presidential poll, necessitated by the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar recently, has been described by the opposition as an ideological battle, even as the numbers are stacked in favour of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

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