West Bengal Guv Jagdeep Dhankhar is NDA's Vice Presidential candidate

West Bengal Guv Jagdeep Dhankhar is NDA's Vice Presidential candidate

The term of M Venkaiah Naidu, the present incumbent, ends on August 10.

FPJ News ServiceUpdated: Saturday, July 16, 2022, 11:15 PM IST
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West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar | Photo Credit: PTI

NEW DELHI: PM Modi, with an uncanny sleight of hand, has come up with another surprise nominee – this time for the post of Vice President. It is none other than Bengal’s controversial Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who has been perpetually engaged in a running duel with the TMC government in the state.

BJP chief JP Nadda made the announcement after the party's parliamentary board met in Delhi; it was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The vice presidential elections are slated for August 6 and the last date for filing of nominations is July 19, which leaves the Opposition a very small window for reaching an understanding on a ‘consensus’ candidate.

Nadda introduced Dhankhar as kisan putra (a farmer's son) and a "people's Governor". Originally from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, Dhankhar’s lineage is expected to earn brownie points with the Jat community in western Uttar Pradesh, which was until recently the hub of farmers' protests against the now-repealed farm laws.

The Jat voters will predictably play a big role in next year's Rajasthan elections as well. Keeping mum about his political considerations, PM Modi tweeted his support for Dhankhar saying he has "excellent knowledge" of the Constitution and is also well-versed with legislative affairs.

The V-P Electoral College comprises members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The BJP, which alone has 394 MPs in Parliament, is expected to cruise through without hiccups, given that the majority threshold in 390. In 2017, M Venkaiah Naidu had romped home comfortably.

Dhankhar has had his share of controversies in West Bengal, since taking over as Governor in July 2019. He has been extremely vocal about the ‘extreme mollycoddling and communalised patronage’ of the minorities in Bengal; the TMC, too, has not shied from calling him names and dubbing him "communal". The last straw for the TMC was the Governor’s call earlier this month to the Bengali intelligentsia to "break their silence" on what he described as the "decimation of democratic values" in the state.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has on several occasions written to PM Modi requesting him to replace the Governor as his ‘interference’ was hampering the work of state government. PM Modi seems to have by default acceded to Mamata’s request because the state will now have a new person in the gubernatorial position.

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