New Delhi : With just a day left for Tuesday’s Vice-Presidential election, both the ruling BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led opposition have intensified efforts to boost their numbers.
The NDA, which was the first to announce candidate for the V-P poll on August 17, has since been engaging with its MPs to ensure victory for its nominee, C P Radhakrishnan.
On his part, the Radhakrishnan has concluded his campaign by meeting all MPs of the alliance, travelling across states and in Delhi.
Although the final result is a foregone conclusion in favour of NDA’s nominee, all eyes are on fence sitters and neutral parties, including Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which are yet to show their hands. The BJD has seven Rajya Sabha MPs while the BRS has four.
Congress sources told this paper that they don’t expect any surprises in Tuesday’s voting, as most southern parties appear to be inclined towards supporting the NDA nominee. Sources said the Opposition reached out to YSRCP chief Jagan Mohan Reddy for support but he conveyed his unwillingness to back the opposition candidate, B Sudershan Reddy.
YSRCP has 7 MPs in the Rajya Sabha and 5 in Lok Sabha.
While BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao is yet to disclose his preference for a candidate, party insiders believe the recent turmoil within the BRS is likely to tilt the scales in favour of the NDA nominee.
The BRS, BJD, and YSRCP have supported the Narendra Modi government in passing crucial bills in Parliament in the past, but opposition strategists are not ruling out additional votes from cross-voting by some MPs from these parties. “Though we do not expect major surprises, we expect to improve our performance this time. We have reached out to the three independent MPs as well,” said a senior opposition leader, who did not wish to be named.
As the principal partner of the NDA and the party responsible for nominating the consensus candidate for Vice President, the BJP is not taking any chances and has asked all its MPs to reach Delhi by Monday ahead of Tuesday’s election. It has also begun training the MPs to ensure they cast their votes correctly and avoid any technical errors. A senior BJP leader said first-time MPs are especially given thorough training in the voting process and taught how to handle the secret ballot papers.
