Fadnavis sought support for NDA’s VP nominee, but I expressed my inability: Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had called him up to seek support for NDA’s vice-presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan, but he expressed his inability.

Talking to reporters here, Pawar said, “Opposition candidate B Sudarshan Reddy has already filed his nomination. Even though we have fewer numbers than the NDA, we are not worried,” he said.

Pawar said the Opposition has unanimously decided to field Reddy as its candidate.

“All Opposition votes will go to Reddy. It knows its strength. We’re not expecting any surprises,” he said.

The election to the country’s second-highest constitutional office is scheduled on September 9.

“The NDA candidate is not aligned with our ideology. When he was the Jharkhand governor, a case was filed against CM Hemant Soren. When Soren went to meet the governor, he was arrested at Raj Bhavan.

“It was a glaring example of the misuse of power, and it is not appropriate to expect support for such a candidate. Therefore, I expressed my inability to accept the chief minister’s request,” Pawar said.

Fadnavis on Thursday sought the support of Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray for Radhakrishnan.

Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said that besides Fadnavis, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also called Thackeray, urging him to extend support to the NDA pick.

The NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) are part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra along with the Congress. The three parties are constituents of the opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc at the national level.