New Delhi: The INDIA bloc today, August 19, announced former Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudershan Reddy as the opposition’s candidate for the vice-presidential elections to be held on September 9.The announcement sets the stage for a contest between Reddy, and Maharashtra governor C.P. Radhakrishnan, the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate.The election is necessitated by a move many have called unprecedented in the history of India’s parliamentary democracy – the resignation of former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar on July 21. Dhankhar is believed to have been shunted by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA which had nominated him. His tenure would have been till 2027. Since he has posted his resignation on X, Dhankhar has not been seen in public.While there was speculation that the opposition would field a candidate from Tamil Nadu to take on Radhakrishnan, the INDIA bloc today, after a meeting, announced Reddy’s name and called the contest an “ideological battle.”“All Opposition parties have nominated Shri B Sudershan Reddy garu as their joint candidate for the position of the Vice President of India,” said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at a press conference today, with other leaders of the INDIA bloc.“The opposition parties have nominated Shri Sudershan Reddy garu as their joint candidate since he reflects fully the values that shaped our country’s freedom movement so profoundly and the values on which our country’s Constitution and democracy have been anchored. All these values are under assault and therefore our collective and determined resolve to fight this election,” the opposition’s joint statement said.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was not present at the press conference today, but TMC MP Derek O’Brien said that Reddy’s name was decided with their support.On Monday, YSRCP, which has 11 MPs, said it would support the NDA candidate. But with Reddy, the INDIA bloc is in a position to invoke Telugu pride – something that is likely to put the support of the NDA ally and Andhra’s ruling Telugu Desam Party to the opposing candidate under the magnifying glass.The choice of Reddy also makes the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP’s decision to support Radhakrishnan a more politically unrewarding one in Andhra Pradesh.The electoral college combining both houses includes 782 MPs, where the majority mark is 394. The NDA with YSRCP’s 11 MPs has 438 MPs while the INDIA has 323.Other non-aligned parties like the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have not yet announced their support for either candidate.Radhakrishnan should be unanimous pick: BJPToday, Union minister for parliamentary affairs Kiren Rijiju said that defence minister Rajnath Singh has been in touch with party leaders, as Radhakrishnan was introduced at the NDA parliamentary party meeting which was attended by prime minister Narendra Modi.“The floor leaders, MPs of the NDA, warmly welcomed C.P. Radhakrishnan, congratulated him and thanked the Prime Minister. His introduction was given by Prime Minister Modi in the meeting of the NDA Parliamentary Party. Along with the introduction, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed that all the MPs of all parties should come together and unanimously support the candidate decided by the NDA for the Vice Presidential election, including the opposition parties,” said Rijiju.Rijiju said that while Singh is in touch with all parties, the government wants Radhakrishnan to be elected as the vice-president unanimously.“Rajnath Singh is also talking to everyone and we want that we all together support Radhakrishnan unanimously in the election of the Vice President and it will be very useful for our democracy, for our country and also in running the Rajya Sabha,” said Rijiju.Radhakrishnan is a former two-term Lok Sabha MP from Coimbatore who has been the BJP’s Tamil Nadu president and had joined the BJP’s ideological fountainhead the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a youthReddy has been a Supreme Court judge till his retirement in 2011, a chief justice of the Gauhati high court, and a judge in the Andhra Pradesh high court.