New Delhi [India], August 17 : CP Radhakrishnan, current Governor of Maharashtra, was on Sunday announced as the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) candidate for the Vice Presidential elections slated to take place on September 9.
BJP National President JP Nadda made the announcement during a press conference following the party's Parliamentary Board meeting held in the national capital.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, the Maharashtra Governor since July 31, 2024, had earlier also served as the Governor of Jharkhand, Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
Radhakrishnan, who served as the two-time MP from Coimbatore, was born on October 20, 1957, in Tamil Nadu's Tirrupur.
The BJP stalwart from Tamil Nadu has achieved a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and became the state committee member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's precursor, in 1974. Before the Jan Sangh, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
In the year 1996, Radhakrishnan was appointed as the BJP Tamil Nadu secretary, following which he was elected as a Lok Sabha member from Coimbatore in 1998 and reelected again in 1999.
During his tenure as MP, he served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee and was also a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and the Consultative Committee for Finance. Radhakrishnan was also a member of the Parliamentary Special Committee investigating the Stock Exchange Scam.
From the year 2004 to 2007, Radhakrishnan served as the Tamil Nadu state president and also led a 19000 km 'Rath Yatra' which lasted for 93 days.
The main agenda of the Rath Yatra was to highlight his demands for the linking of all Indian rivers, eradicating terrorism, implementing a uniform civil code, removing untouchability and combating the menace of narcotic drugs.
Radhakrishnan was appointed as the Chairman of the Coir Board, Kochi, which comes under the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, from 2016 to 2020, and held the position for four years. During his tenure, coir exports from India reached an all-time high of Rs 2532 crores.
He was also the All India in Charge of the BJP for Kerala from 2020 to 2022.
Besides politics, Radhakrishnan was a college champion in table tennis and had combined interests in cricket and volleyball.
Radhakrishnan has also visited many foreign countries, including the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Egypt, the UAE, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Japan.