Vice-President Front-Runners: Arya Samaj Educator, Corporate Honcho, Terror Dissipator!

The BJP has zeroed in on the rightly suitable candidate to serve India’s next Vice Presidentship, scheduled meeting of NDA allies for consensus come Monday. Erstwhile V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar’s bitter experience ensures Modi won’t repeat same mistake, leading to selection of a hardcore BJP loyalist this time round, just like President Draupadi Murmu’s candidature for the Indian Presidency was finalized. Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat was called to New Delhi on August 16 highlighting his name as the most likely choice of PM Modi. However, Lt Governors of Delhi – Vinai Kumar Saxena – Jammu & Kashmir – Manoj Sinha – also find serious consideration, according to BJP sources. Devvrat held governorship since 2019 in his current post, also served as Arya Samaj Pracharak and principal of Gurukul in Haryana till 2015, before his first appointment as governor of Himachal Pradesh, de facto Chancellor of Universities in the state and then in 2019, in Gujarat as well. Saxena was appointed Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor in 2022 becoming the first corporate sector honcho appointed to the gubernatorial post. His three decades of corporate experience include chair of Khadi & Village Industries Commission between 2015 and 2022. Lt Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, is in zone of consideration for elevation considering his able tenure in erstwhile terror infested state unbundled into Union territories alongside repeal of article 370 from the forehead state of India. While the next V-P being a hardcore BJP loyalist is near certainty, PM Modi is known to keep his cards close to his chest.