Former SC judge emerges as Opposition V-P candidate

New Delhi: A day ahead of the meeting of 18 Opposition parties, former Supreme Court judge Gopal Gowda seems to have emerged as a front-runner for the Opposition vice-presidential candidate. The name of former Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who was also in reckoning as the Opposition presidential candidate, is also doing the rounds. 

Interestingly, Manipur governor Najma Heptullah has called up some leaders from Opposition parties and has sought their support to contest the vice-presidential polls.

Sources told this newspaper that the Opposition’s candidate for the vice-presidential position was likely to be announced after Tuesday’s meeting itself in order to avoid the situation during presidential candidate selection, where the BJP was allowed to have the upper hand and had announced Mr Ram Nath Kovind’s name first. According to some leaders, this had led to some parties like the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)  deserting the 18-party grouping and joining ranks with the ruling side. 

Gopal Krishna Gandhi

All 18 parties are likely to attend Tuesday’s meeting, called by Congress president Sonia Gandhi,  including JD(U) which had broken ranks during presidential polls. Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said that he would represent his party. Sharad Pawar-led NCP would also attend the meeting, its leader Praful Patel told this newspaper. 

Mr Gowda, retired from the Supreme Court last year and was known to have given many pro-people judgements, including quashing the acquisition of 1,000 acres of land in Singur given by West Bengal’s Left Front government in 2006 for Tata’s Nano project. 

His name seems to have been considered positively by the Trinamul Congress as well as the Left. Sources said that since the presidential candidates from both the NDA and UPA are from the North, this time it was likely that a South Indian is fielded. Both Mr Gandhi and Mr Gowda have a South Indian connection. While Mr Gowda belongs to Karnataka, Mr Gandhi is the grandson of C. Rajahopalachari from his maternal side and Mahatma Gandhi was his paternal grandfather. 

Though a defeat was almost certain, the Opposition was keen on contesting the vice-presidential polls to defeat the BJP’s aim of “an Opposition-mukt Bharat”, a senior leader said. 

At the Opposition meeting, besides the vice-presidential candidate, discussions would also be held on forming a strategy to corner the government on incidents of lynching, farmers’ suicides and using Central agencies to target Opposition parties like RJD in Bihar and TMC in Kolkata, sources said.  

Meanwhile, the ruling NDA has also begun the process of finalising a vice-presidential candidate. BJP president Amit Shah is expected to meet the RSS top brass to discuss issues including the V-P candidate. 

The BJP parliamentary board, sources said, is also likely to meet on July 13 to finalise the V-P candidate’s name. RSS’s second-in-command Bhaiyya Joshi also reached New Delhi this evening. 

The RSS leaders, sources said, will also deliberate on coming assembly elections, including in Gujarat, with Mr Shah. The RSS, which is holding a key review meeting in Jammu from Sunday of its senior pracharaks, will also discuss the Kashmir issue with the BJP leadership. Though names of senior BJP leaders including O. Rajagopal, C Vidyasagar Rao (currently Maharashtra Governor), Madhubani MP Hukum Narayan Yadav, former Gujarat CM Anandi Ben, Manipur Governor Nazma Heptullah and Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu are doing the round for the NDA VP post, speculation is rife that the BJP could name a “surprise candidate” as its Vice Presidential nominee.