NDA announces West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as Vice Presidential candidate

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced that West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will be the ruling National Democratic Alliance candidate for the post of the Vice President.

Making the announcement, BJP president JP Nadda called Dhankhar “kisan putra”. “After considerations and consultations, the party’s parliament board has decided that kisan putra (farmer’s son) Jagdeep Dhankhar as our Vice Presidential candidate,” Nadda said at a press conference.

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Describing Dhankhar's personal and professional life, Nadda said that Dhankhar has three decades of experience in public life. “He is a first generation professional, and since he took over as the Governor of West Bengal in July 2019, he has been known as ‘people’s Governor’.”

PM Modi too described Dhankhar as a “kisan putra” while making the announcement on twitter. “Kisan Putra Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji is known for his humility. He brings with him an illustrious legal, legislative and gubernatorial career. He has always worked for the well-being of farmers, youth, women and the marginalised. Glad that he will be our VP candidate,” Modi’s tweet read.

Soon after his name was announced, Dhankhar tweeted, "Thank you Narendra Modi ji for nominating me as the Vice President candidate for the vice presidential election."

Election for the post of the Vice President will be held on August 6, and the last date for filing nominations for the post is July 19. If Dhankhar is elected, then Rajya Sabha chairman as well as the Lok Sabha speaker will both be politicians from Rajasthan. While LS Speaker Om Birla is the MP from Kota, Dhankhar started his career in 1989 from Jhunjhunu.

Dhankhar's selection, senior BJP leaders said, is part of the party’s outreach to the Jat community, a section of which moved away from the party in the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Dhankhar hails from the Jat community, and his success in the field of law is one that the party is keen to draw from, said a senior Rajya Sabha MP. Additionally, Dhankhar’s election could also help add to the party’s efforts for the OBC community.

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The BJP is keen to woo the Jat community in Rajasthan as well, with assembly elections scheduled in the Congress-held state for December 2023.

Dhankhar’s political career started in the late 1980s with Devi Lal, and after winning his first election in 1989 on a Janata Dal ticket from Jhunjhunu, he was part of the VP Singh government. In 1990, he was made the minister of state of parliamentary affairs in the Chandrasekhar government, a post he held till 1993. He was then elected an MLA from Rajasthan’s Kishangarh constituency between 1993 to 1998.

Dhankhar later moved to the Congress, and joined the BJP in 2003. Prior to his success as a politician, Dhankhar was a successful lawyer, and practised law at Rajasthan High Court and later at the Supreme Court. He had also served as president of the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association in the past.