BJP announced Venkaiah Naidu as its Vice-Presidential candidate for the elections due on Aug 5 against the opposition candidate Gopal Krishna Gandhi.
By nominating Naidu as its Candidate BJP has followed its age old healthy tradition of nominating a candidate who has either served in the states or has been a voice of the states by serving in the Council of States. As per the past records, BJP had earlier nominated Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the post of vice-president of India. Bhairon Singh had years of experience as Rajasthan CM and MLA and hence became the choice of BJP for the post.
Similarly like Bhairon Singh, Naidu has set a record for having the Rajya Sabha and Parliamentary experience. He is the member of Rajya Sabha since 1998 and he will be the first vice-president if elected to be the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to serve in the post.
A BJP party source said that Naidu has represented both Rajasthan and Karnataka, hence representing the north and south together, BJP has made his nomination keeping in mind fully the spirit of the position and duties. A senior government official said that by nominating the most experienced Rajya Sabha member for the post, BJP has proved that how important spirit and sensitivity of the office of the vice-president is for the party. He further added that “Modi government has shown the importance it gives to cooperative federalism and healthy parliamentary functioning.”
Naidu being a self-made politician and the son of a farmer is well acquainted with the grass root level problems people face. He has served both as an MP and an MLA and has also been the President of BJP, thus he has the political, legislative as well as administrative experience.