West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar is BJP’s VP candidate

By G Krishna Mohan Rao*

Opposition parties to decide their candidate tomorrow

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party today named West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar as its pick for the Vice President race. Dhankar, a Jat leader from Rajasthan with socialist background, will file his nomination papers as the National Democratic Alliance’s Vice Presidential candidate.

Earlier, this evening, the BJP Parliamentary Board, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, picked the 71-year-old Dhankar after deliberating over several names. This was announced by the BJP chief JP Nadda soon after the Board meeting. Since taking over as the West Bengal Governor in July 2019, Dhankar has had several run-ins with the Mamata Bannerjee government in the State. While his proactive conduct has drawn criticism from the State’s ruling Trinamul Congress, the BJP has backed him.

Besides, Prime Minister Modi, all the members of the BJP Parliamentary Board were present including the ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari as well as the party president J P Nadda and in charge General Secretary of the party organisation B L Santosh. Earlier, sources said, the BJP leadership consulted its allies and friendly parties to seek a consensus over the choice. Sources said that the Opposition is also fielding its candidate to force a contest, as it has for the Presidential poll. The Congress Party, the Left and other regional parties are meeting tomorrow to elect their candidate.

Top BJP sources said that they have the majority in the electoral college comprising members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Out of Parliament’s current strength of 780, the BJP alone has 394 MPs, more than the majority mark. The term of M.Venkaiah Naidu, the present incumbent, ends on August 10, 2022.

The last date for filing nomination papers for the polls is July 19 and the election is scheduled for August 6, 2022. The electoral college for picking the next Vice President of the country, who is also the Rajya Sabha chairperson, consists of members of both Houses of Parliament—the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Being a Jat, a backward community in Rajasthan, Dhankar’s elevation as Vice President is likely to send a helpful political message for the BJP as not many Jats besides former prime minister Charan Singh and former deputy prime minister Devi Lal have occupied high positions at the national level. Sources said that BJP has had uneasy relations with Jats, a powerful agrarian community in Haryana, Rajasthan, and western Uttar Pradesh, though the party has received their support in good numbers in the recent two Lok Sabha polls compared to assembly elections in these states.

BJP leaders noted that Dhankar has been in public life for more than three decades, and his life story reflects the spirit of new India. BJP chief Nadda said that Dhankar established himself as a respected lawyer in the Rajasthan High Court and later in the Supreme Court before making it into politics. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan in 1989 and had served briefly as a Union Minister in the government led by Chandrashekhar. He joined the BJP later. Dhankar was also a member of the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha from 1993 to 1998 representing the Kishangarh constituency.

Meanwhile, the Opposition, which decided to put up its candidate after the decides its candidate, sources said tomorrow they may choose their candidate. While there is no word yet on who they have in mind, several Opposition party leaders are in touch with each other since they came together for the Presidential contest. The Congress, the Trinamool Congress, Left Parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Samajwadi Party, among others, have decided to go together. The Telugu Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao has also joined the camp and he is learnt to be in touch with other Opposition leaders. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal too has not revealed his cards and has not responded to overtures from the Opposition, sources said.

*Senior Journalist