NDA names Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan CP Radhakrishnan as vice-president candidate

Radhakrishnan hails from Tamil Nadu, which will go to polls in 2026

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday announced Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as its nominee for the upcoming vice presidential election.

CP Radhakrishnan has been announced as the candidate of the ruling NDA for the Vice Presidential election, nearly a month after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his position.

BJP national president and Union Minister JP Nadda said, "We will talk to the opposition as well. We should also get their support so that together we can ensure an unopposed election for the post of Vice President. As we said earlier, we have been in touch with them and our senior leaders have contacted them earlier as well and even now, we will remain in touch with them and all our NDA colleagues have supported us. CP Radhakrishnan is our NDA's candidate for Vice President."

Due to the comfortable majority of the BJP and its allies in the electoral college, comprising Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, Radhakrishnan's election is all but certain, and the party hopes that his elevation will help it make fresh inroads in Tamil Nadu, where elections are due next year.

Radhakrishnan belongs to the influential Gounder caste, an OBC community, in Tamil Nadu. Unlike his predecessor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was also a governor like him before being named as the NDA's vice-presidential nominee in 2022, Radhakrishnan has refrained from cultivating a public profile on political issues and skirted any controversy.

The last date for filing nomination is August 21. Chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of the BJP-led alliance will to be part of Radhakrishnan's nomination-filing exercise, besides the prime minister and Union ministers.

If the Opposition also names its candidate, the election will be held on September 9.

CP Radhakrishnan: A brief profile

Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was sworn in as the Governor of Maharashtra on 31 July 2024. CP Radhakrishnan has also served as the Governor of Jharkhand for nearly one and a half years. As the Governor of Jharkhand, Radhakrishnan was appointed by the President of India to discharge the functions of the Governor of Telangana and as the Lt. Governor of Puducherry.

Born on October 20, 1957, in Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Starting as an RSS Swayamsevak, he became a State Executive Committee Member of the Bharatiya Janasangh in 1974.

In 1996, Radhakrishnan was appointed the Secretary of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Coimbatore in 1998. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha in 1999.

During his tenure as an MP, he served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Textiles. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the Consultative Committee for Finance. He was a member of the Parliamentary Special Committee investigating the Stock Exchange Scam.

In 2004,  Radhakrishnan addressed the UN General Assembly as part of the Parliamentary Delegation. He was also a member of the first Parliamentary delegation to Taiwan.

Between 2004 and 2007, Radhakrishnan served as the State President of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. In this role, he undertook a 19,000 km ‘Ratha Yatra’ that lasted for 93 days. The Yatra was organised to highlight his demands for the linking of all Indian rivers, eradicating terrorism, implementing a uniform civil code, removing untouchability and combating the menace of narcotic drugs. He also led two more Padayatras for different causes.

In 2016, Radhakrishnan was appointed as the Chairman of the Coir Board, Kochi, a position he held for four years. Under his leadership, coir exports from India reached an all-time high of Rs. 2532 crores. From 2020 to 2022, he was the All India in Charge of BJP for Kerala.

On February 18, 2023, Radhakrishnan was appointed as the Governor of Jharkhand. Within his first four months, he travelled to all the 24 districts of Jharkhand, interacting with citizens and district officials.

An avid sportsperson, Radhakrishnan was a college champion in table tennis and a long-distance runner. He also enjoyed cricket and volleyball.