The Making Of A Leader: NDA's Vice President Candidate CP Radhakrishnan's Career Highlights And Achievements

The ruling National Democratic Alliance on Sunday named Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as its vice-presidential candidate. India will elect its next Vice-President on Sept. 9, following the unexpected resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar. The last date for filing nominations is set for Aug. 21.

BJP president J P Nadda made the announcement following a meeting of the party's parliamentary board, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and consultation with the party's allies.

Dhankhar, who assumed office in August 2022, stepped down on July 21, citing medical reasons. His resignation came more than two years ahead of the scheduled end of his term in August 2027. While the official reason was health-related, sources have hinted at underlying tensions between Dhankhar and the central leadership, despite his earlier alignment with the government’s positions.

From RSS background to Maharashtra Governor, check key career highlights:

Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, 67, is a seasoned BJP leader belonging to a key OBC caste from Tamil Nadu with an RSS background. If elected, he would be the third person from Tamil Nadu to assume the office of vice-president.

Radhakrishnan has been associated with BJP since its early years and represented it in the Lok Sabha between 1998 and 2004.

In 1974, he was elected to the Jan Sangh's state executive committee. In 1998, Radhakrishnan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Coimbatore; he defeated incumbent M Ramanathan of the DMK.

He was the state president of BJP, Tamil Nadu, from 2004 to 2006.

Currently, he is Governor of Maharashtra. In the past, Radhakrishnan served as the acting governor of Telangana and the acting lieutenant governor of Puducherry.

He was the chairman of the Coir Board of India—a statutory body established by the Union government for the promotion and development of the coir industry, which comes under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, from 2016 to 2020.