INDIA bloc names former SC judge Sudershan Reddy as its VP candidate

NEW DELHI: Dubbing the vice-presidential poll as an "ideological battle" to counter the assault on constitutional values , the joint opposition announced Tuesday former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy as its candidate to take on NDA's C P Radhakrishnan, underlining that Reddy is a "consistent and courageous champion of social, economic and political justice".

The opposition, after a meeting at the residence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge , announced Reddy's candidature to end the suspense. "Reddy... fully reflects the values that shaped our country's freedom movement so profoundly and the values on which our country's Constitution and democracy have been anchored."

Reddy as judge protected Constitution: Oppn

All the values on which our Constitution has been anchored are under assault and, therefore, our collective and determined resolve to fight this election, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge read out from a joint statement, adding, "B Sudershan Reddy is a pro-poor man, and in many of his judgments... he also protected the Constitution and fundamental rights." Reddy was welcomed at Delhi airport by an opposition delegation in the evening. Opposition MPs will meet in Parliament's Central Hall Wednesday, while Reddy will file his nomination on Thursday.

Source said at the meeting attended by K C Venugopal, Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), M A Baby (CPM), Derek O'Brien (TMC), Kanimozhi (DMK), Sandosh Kumar (CPI), Dharmendra Yadav (SP), N K Premachandran (RSP), Sanjay Raut (Sena UBT), Rajaram Singh (CPI-ML) among others, Kharge merely announced the candidate's name, which was finalised during the discussions with allies through interlocutors Kharge, Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh late on Monday.

The meeting on Monday remained inconclusive after DMK's nominee Mylswami Annadurai was objected to by TMC, which argued that the VP polls could not become a local Tamil Nadu affair, alluding to BJP's choice of C P Radhakrishnan. DMK did not press for it, sources said, in the interest of unity.

But since the Trinamool brass was insistent on a non-political person, Congress is said to have recommended Reddy citing his judicial past and his strong social justice credentials. Sources said, none of the parties took a hard line on any issue to ensure that the rare unity in the anti-BJP axis was not broken. Kharge said, "Whenever democracy and the Constitution are under attack, opposition parties unite to fight against it."

CPI MP Sandosh Kumar said Reddy's nomination is an assertion that "defence of the Constitution and democratic values is non-negotiable", underlining Reddy is "an eminent jurist whose record in upholding human rights and civil liberties is impeccable".

AICC data analytics department chairman Praveen Chakravarty posted photographs of working with Reddy, who was chairman of the expert group on Telangana caste survey that concluded recently.

The opposition choice is also a political trap for Andhra-Telangana parties aligned with BJP, as opposition will try to embarrass YSRCP and TDP who are supporting Radhakrishnan. At the same time, BJP's Telangana MPs will have to manage a tightrope as "Reddy is a known name in the state". It is the same issue of optics that BJP through Radhakrishnan is seeking to foist on DMK, which is in the opposition camp.