VP takes oath, chairs 1st meeting with RS leaders
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was sworn in as India's 15th vice president, vowing fairness in his role as Rajya Sabha chairman during his first meeting.
New Delhi: Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was sworn in as the 15th vice president of India on Friday, three days after he won the election to the second-highest constitutional post in the country. Later, he also assumed charge as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha and held his first meeting with floor leaders of various political parties.
President Droupadi Murmu administered oath to 67-year-old Radhakrishnan, who, clad in a red kurta and mundu, — the traditional Tamil attire — took oath in English in the name of God, at a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He will hold office till September 11, 2030.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, chief justice of India BR Gavai and a host of leaders greeted Radhakrishnan with applause after he took oath.
Radhakrishnan succeeds Jagdeep Dhankhar, who resigned from the post on July 21 citing health reasons, necessitating an election. Dhankhar was present at the ceremony, his first public appearance since his resignation as the vice president, and was joined by his predecessors M Venkaiah Naidu and Hamid Ansari.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and JP Nadda, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and leader of the Rajya Sabha, were also present at the ceremony. Congress chief and leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI(M) lawmaker John Brittas and some other opposition leaders also attended the event. Kharge was seated in the second row.
Radhakrishnan defeated joint opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy in the vice-presidential election by a margin of 152 votes.
Later, he assumed charge as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha in the Parliament House complex, where he was welcomed by deputy chairperson of the Upper House, Harivansh, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju and ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and L Murugan. He signed some official papers soon after assuming charge as the chairman.
At his first meeting with floor leaders of various political parties, including the Congress, RJD, CPI(M), DMK and the Samajwadi Party, Radhakrishnan sought to build consensus, assuring fairness in his approach and elicited the support of the Opposition.
A person aware of the details said, the vice president, who is the ex officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, reached out to the Opposition leaders with the assurance that he would be fair in his approach. “As he is an affable person, he put everyone at ease and was candid in his conversation. He said as chairman he will be fair and sought the cooperation of the opposition leaders as well,” the person said, declining to be named.
The person said that Radhakrishnan also made a mention of his uncle and grandfather being members of the Congress and the Left. “In a freewheeling chat he mentioned that his uncle (CK Kuppuswamy) was a member of the Congress and a former MP and his grandfather was a Leftist. Incidentally, his uncle represented Coimbatore, a seat that he later won twice,” the person added.
Harivansh, BJP chief whip Laxmikant Bajpayee, NCP’s Praful Patel, AIADMK’s Thambidurai, YSRCP’s Ayodhya Rami Reddy, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) lawmaker G K Vasan, CPI(M)’s John Brittas, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh and RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta were also present in the meeting that lasted for over half an hour.
