Staff Reporter / New Delhi
“He may have retired, but I know he will not be tired,” said Congress media incharge Jairam Ramesh on outgoing VP Venkaiah Naidu soon after BJP announced a new candidate for Vice President
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA announced Jagdeep Dhankhar as its candidate for the upcoming vice presidential elections,
Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter to leave a parting message, full of praise, for the outgoing VP Venkaiah Naidu. Remembering the 15th Vice President of India as a “good man”, Ramesh said despite being retired, Naidu will not be “tired”.
“So it is curtains for Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu-garu. His humour and wit will be missed. On many occasions he got the Opposition all agitated, but at the end of it a good man exits. He may have retired, but I know he will not be tired,” Ramesh wrote on the micro-blogging site.
The vice presidential polls are scheduled for August 6, and the results for the same will be declared on the same day. Naidu’s term will end on August 10.
So it is curtains for Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu-garu. His humour and wit will be missed. On many occasions he got the Opposition all agitated, but at the end of it a good man exits. He may have retired, but I know he will not be tired.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 16, 2022
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, including nominated members, form the electoral college for the vice presidential election. Therefore, it comprises as many as 788 members, of which, 233 are elected members of Rajya Sabha, 12 are nominated members of the Lower House, and 543 are elected members of Lok Sabha.
Naidu, who served in both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi cabinets in the past, took oath as the Vice President of India in August 2017. He had succeeded Mohammad Hamid Ansari.
Dhankhar’s name to replace Naidu was announced after the BJP conducted a parliamentary board meeting in Delhi earlier in the day, with Prime Minister Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and party national president JP Nadda, among other leaders and ministers, in attendance.
Nadda made the announcement of Bengal Governor Dhankhar’s name as the NDA’s VP nominee, and called him a “kisan putra (farmer’s son)” who made his way to a “people’s governor”.
The opposition camp is yet to decide on a name to contest the vice presidential polls. The leaders of various opposition parties will meet tomorrow (July 17) to discuss the issue.