Strain with TMC govt marked tenure as governor of Jagdeep Dhankhar, the NDA pick for vice president

Dhankhar assumed charge as governor of West Bengal in July 2019, and his equation with the TMC nosedived further in recent months with the Mamata Banerjee-led party accusing him of being a mouthpiece of the BJP.

Kolkata: The National Democratic Alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party nominated West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar for the post of Vice President of India on Saturday.

Union home minister Amit Shah (right) with West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar. Dhankhar has been chosen as the BJP-led NDA's candidate for the upcoming vice-presidential elections. (Amit Shah/Twitter)

The announcement was made by BJP chief JP Nadda following the party’s parliamentary board meeting in Delhi.

Dhankhar is a kisan putra (son of a farmer) who established himself as a people’s governor, Nadda said.

Born on May 18, 1951, at Kithana village in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, the septuagenarian completed his education in the state. He graduated with Physics honours from Rajasthan University. He then did LLB from the same university and enrolled as an advocate in the Rajasthan Bar Council. Since 1990, he practised mainly in the Supreme Court.

Dhankhar’s political career started in 1989, when he was elected as an MP on a Janata Dal ticket from the Lok Sabha seat of Jhunjhunu. He served as a Union minister and chairman of a parliamentary committee in 1990. He was elected to the Rajasthan legislative assembly in 1993. He joined the BJP in 2003.

Dhankhar is an avid reader and a sports aficionado. He has been president of the Rajasthan Olympic Association and the Rajasthan Tennis Association. He is married to Sudesh Dhankhar and the couple has one daughter.

He assumed charge as governor of West Bengal in July 2019, and has since have had an acrimonious relationship with the ruling Trinamool Congress party. The relation nosedived further in recent months with the TMC accusing the governor of being a mouthpiece of the BJP.

The TMC in January requested President Ram Nath Kovind to remove Dhankhar from the governor’s post. While the governor has been attacking the Mamata Banerjee administration over alleged political violence, corruption, minority appeasement and politicization of administration, the TMC recently passed a draft legislation in the assembly, removing him from the post of chancellor at all state-run universities. Chief minister Banerjee had also blocked him from following her on social media.

“Earlier in 2017, Mamata Banerjee had asked who Ram Nath Kovind was, when he was nominated as the NDA’s presidential candidate. I am sure she won’t ask the question this time, as she knows him very well. Again, this year when Droupadi Murmu was nominated as the presidential candidate of NDA, Banerjee said had she been informed earlier she would have considered. She has enough time to think over Dhankhar now,” said Pranay Roy, a state BJP leader.

“But whatever it may be, Dhankhar would win hands down,” Roy said. “He has been the people’s governor who had opened the doors of the Raj Bhavan to hear grievances of the common people.”

TMC supremo Banerjee has called a meeting of all Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs on July 21 to discuss the party’s plan of action regarding the upcoming vice-presidential elections.

“We are busy with the July 21 mega rally. Our party chief Mamata Banerjee has called a meeting on July 21. The party will decide,” said Santanu Sen, TMC MP.