The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has named senior party leader and Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan as its Vice Presidential candidate. This was announced by BJP President JP Nadda at a press conference in the Party Head Quarters at Delhi on Sunday.67 year old Radhakrishnan who hails from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu was earlier elected as the MP from Coimbatore Lok Sabha in 1998 and 1999 elections.

He also served as the Chairman of the All India Coir Board 2016 to 2020, as the Governor of Jharkhand from 2023 to 2024, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry and Governor of Telangana(Additional Charges) in 2024. He is being nominated for the post of Vice President due to the vacancy created following the resignation of previous Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar last month.

A graduate in Business Administration from VO Chidambaram College, Thoothukudi, Radhakrishnan became a RSS  Swayamsevak(volunteer) at the age of 16. He was appointed the Secretary of the BJP in Tamil Nadu in 1996. During his tenure as an MP of Coimbatore from 1998-2004, he served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Textiles, member of the Committee for Public Sector Undertakings and the Consultative Committee for Finance. He addressed the UN General Assembly as part of the Parliamentary Delegation in 2004. 

Between 2004 and 2007, Radhakrishnan served as the State President of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. In this role, he undertook 19,000 km ‘Ratha Yatra’ that lasted for 93 days to highlight his demands for the linking of rivers, eradicating terrorism, implementing a uniform civil code, removing untouchability and combating the menace of drugs. Under his chairmanship of the Coir Board, coir exports from India reached an all-time high of Rs. 2532 crores.