Opposition's vice presidential candidate B. Sudershan Reddy with Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav, SP MLA Shivpal Singh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai during a press conference at SP office, in Lucknow, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow: Opposition Vice-Presidential candidate and former SC judge B Sudershan Reddy on Tuesday met Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and UP Congress president Ajay Rai and exuded confidence that he would get support from the members of the parties outside the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.
Speaking to reporters at the SP office here with Akhilesh and Rai, Reddy said that he was in Lucknow to seek support for him in the VP election.
He said that he had learnt a lot from the socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav but could not learn Hindi. ‘’I try to speak Hindi whatever little I know,’’ he added.
He said that he would try to garner support from the MPs from the states other than UP.
Reddy refused to comment on Union minister Amit Shah’s remarks that he (Reddy) had supported naxalism.
Akhilesh said that he expected the MPs to vote on the call of their conscience. ‘’Our fight is for justice and there could have been no better candidate than Reddy,’’ he said.
‘’BJP has been trying to make sure that people with a particular ideology only occupy the highest seats and so it is our responsibility that we follow an inclusive ideology,’’ the SP president said.
Earlier, Reddy was accorded a rousing reception by Congress and SP workers upon his arrival at the airport. He drove to the Congress office here and garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.