NCP (SP), Sena (UBT) reject Fadnavis’ plea to support NDA V-P candidate

The vice president is elected via secret ballot, with members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha comprising the electorate.

Mumbai: The NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), which are part of the opposition INDIA alliance at the national level, on Friday turned down chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ request to support the ruling NDA coalition’s vice-presidential (V-P) candidate CP Radhakrishnan in the forthcoming polls.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar (HT Photo)

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar said his party cannot vote for Radhakrishnan who was the Jharkhand governor in January 2024 when the state’s chief minister, Hemant Soren, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Raj Bhavan in an unprecedented manner. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut criticised Fadnavis saying those who had split the Sena (in 2022) were now seeking their votes for the V-P election. Earlier, Fadnavis said he had requested both Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray to vote for Radhakrishnan.

“Soren was facing a case and had gone to meet the governor (Radhakrishnan) at Raj Bhavan when someone called all central agencies like ED (Enforcement Directorate), CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). Their officials arrested the chief minister in front of the governor,” Pawar alleged, claiming the incident was unprecedented.

Soren had then insisted that he should not be arrested inside the Raj Bhavan, but outside it, or from the official residence of the chief minister, where he was residing. But his appeal went in vain, Pawar claimed.

“It was a shining example of misuse of power. Hence we do not find it appropriate to vote for such a person (Radhakrishnan),” he said.

Soren too had alleged the Raj Bhavan’s hand in his arrest by the ED on January 31, 2024 in an alleged money laundering case. But Radhakrishnan had denied the allegations, saying every democratic norm had been strictly followed.

The vice president is elected via secret ballot, with members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha comprising the electorate. In the poll scheduled on September 9, Radhakrishnan is pitted against B Sudershan Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge.

Fadnavis had on Thursday personally requested both Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to vote for Radhakrishnan in the polls. On Friday, he confirmed approaching both Pawar and Thackeray and said, “Pawar saab told me that it is not possible for them to support us while Thackeray said that they will convey their decision after discussing it within the party.”

Pawar, while speaking to reporters later in the day, said the Shiv Sena (UBT) too had decided to reject the chief minister’s request and the same was conveyed to him by the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Raut.

He also said that NCP (SP) legislators would vote for Reddy even though the INDIA bloc doesn’t have the numbers to secure his win.

Pawar also confessed that though they didn’t have enough votes, they would still vote for Reddy.

“We know our strength in terms of number of votes but still do not find it appropriate to support such a person (C P Radhakrishnan),” the NCP (SP) chief said.

He also confirmed that CM Fadnavis had contacted him seeking support for Radhakrishnan.

Speaking to reporters separately, Raut criticised Fadnavis, saying those behind the split in the Shiv Sena in 2022 were now seeking their votes for the vice presidential election.

“You engineered the split and are now asking for votes from the same parties. When you claim to have a majority, there is no need to seek support from us. You also do not have the right to ask us to vote for them,” Raut said.

The Sena (UBT) MP also alleged that the BJP-led NDA was afraid of cross-voting during the polls.

“Will the Shiv Sena MPs indulge in cross voting? This may happen as the atmosphere in the country is such,” he said. There was unease among MPs from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh too as the INDIA bloc candidate was from Andhra Pradesh, he claimed.