If BJP had surprised friends and foes alike by selecting C P Radhakrishnan - a RSS man and an OBC from Tamil Nadu - as the NDA nominee for vice presidential polls, the Opposition INDI alliance think they can play a smarter move by putting up a Telugu man from the Supreme Court.
Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the Opposition to support NDA’s Vice-Presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan, the INDIA bloc on Tuesday fielded its own nominee — former Supreme Court judge Sudershan Reddy.
Before his elevation to the Supreme Court, Reddy served as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court and as a Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Reddy retired as a Supreme Court judge in 2011.
Announcing the joint Opposition candidate, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the upcoming Vice Presidential election was an ideological battle.
“All Opposition parties are on board. Democratic values are under attack,” Kharge stated.
"All INDIA bloc parties have decided to have a common candidate. The decision has been taken unanimously. I am happy that all Opposition parties have agreed to one name. It is a big achievement for democracy," Kharge added.
Highlighting the nominee’s credentials, he said: “He has served as Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court and as a Judge of the Supreme Court, and has been a champion of social and political justice.”
Reddy later said:
"I appeal to all parties, including NDA, to support me." Expressing confidence about the upcoming elections, Reddy told India Today TV that, as the Opposition’s candidate, he represented 60% of India.
Out of 782 total number of MPs (as of now) for election to the coveted Vice President's post - the NDA led by BJP has 423 MPs, with 293 in Lok Sabha.
And remaining 130 in Rajya Sabha. The Modi-led ruling alliance is pretty comfortable in terms of numbers as they would require only 392 to win.
Sources indicate that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, tasked with securing support from other parties, spoke with YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy over the phone. Jagan stated the party would finalize its stance after an internal meeting.
According to sources, Jagan, after consulting party leaders, communicated YSRCP’s support for the NDA’s vice-presidential candidate via the party’s parliamentary leader, YV Subba Reddy.
YSRCP holds four Lok Sabha seats and seven Rajya Sabha seats. Notably, the party has previously supported NDA candidates in presidential and vice-presidential elections.
The BJP's decision to field a Tamil candidate had created some problems for DMK especially because the state goes to elect its new assembly in March-April 2026.
Accordingly, DMK insisted that the opposition candidate should be from south. So even if Reddy is not from Tamil Nadu, he is a Telugu speaking leader from Telangana.
Of all three Telugu-based parties the BRS led by K Chandrashekhar Rao will be in deeper dilemma if at all because Reddy is from Telangana.
While Opposition thinks TDP leader N Chandrababu will be in some kind of problems and 'linguistic dilemma', the TDP sources rule out any such possibility.
Chandrababu has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and two in Rajya Sabha - making it 21.
Jagan Mohan Reddy YSRCP has 4 members in Lok Sabha and seven in the Upper House making it 11.
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress did not object to a candidate from south; only thing it wanted was that the nominee should be 'apolitical'.
In 2022, NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar had defeated Margaret Alva of the opposition while in 2017, opposition's non-political nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi (a former Governor in West Bengal) was defeated by BJP veteran M Venkaiah Naidu.
On 2 May 1993, Reddy became a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.
In 2005, he was appointed as the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court from December 5.
Reddy was appointed as a Supreme Court judge on January 12, 2007 during the Manmohan Singh regime. He retired on July 7, 2011, with one of his last cases being the influential Salwa Judum case.
Following the passage of the The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, he became the first Lokayukta of Goa in March 2013. In October 2013, Reddy resigned from the role due to personal reasons.
This year vice presidential elections will be held in India on September 9 following the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar due to health concerns.
In fact, Dhankhar had resigned over major political differences with the NDA government for his alleged hobnobbing with the opposition parties especially the Congress.
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