A man from the South

When the Opposition had selected the very eminent Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its vice-presidential nominee, the expectation was that the BJP would feel obliged to come up with a distinctly better name. In the event that hope stands belied. The BJP leadership has opted for a conventional, reliable, loyal and unexciting Venkaiah Naidu. Given the numbers in the vice-presidential college — comprising the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members — Mr Naidu can feel reasonably assured of a handsome victory over Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi.  To the extent Mr Naidu hails from Andhra, his choice can be said to provide some kind of balance at the national level; the “South” will have a sense of representation in an otherwise North/West India-dominated ruling arrangement. 

Apart from the many ceremonial roles that come a Vice-President's way, his most substantive job is that of presiding over the Rajya Sabha as its Chairman. In the present context when the ruling party still does not command a majority in the Upper House, the role of the presiding officer gets invested with extra critical importance. Mr Naidu would be a friendly Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and would provide definite comfort to the Treasury benches, a comfort that eluded the government with the incumbent Vice-President, Hamid Ansari, presiding over.  Naidu has the advantage of being an experienced parliamentary hand; and, he happens to be an affable person and therefore has the potential of extracting, for the government, cooperation from the Opposition. He has the reputation of being kind of a peace-maker; his most important political assignment so far —during his days as the BJP president — has been to ensure that peace and tranquility prevailed on the Vajpayee-Advani Line of Ceasefire. 

Naidu should make an effective Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, provided he is able to graduate out of his current partisan avatar. Technically, he will be severing his ties with the BJP but his loyalties will always remain with the saffron party. Like his “presidential” colleague, Ram Nath Kovind, Venkaiah Naidu too would owe his new office to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s benevolence and benediction. Amen.