Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) -SCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Friday that he had rejected the request of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to support NDA’s Vice Presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan. He said that these candidates do not match the ideology of his party. In a press conference, Pawar said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had urged us to support NDA Vice Presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan, as he is the Governor of Maharashtra. This is not possible because he does not match our ideology.
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The NCP-SCP supremo claimed that CP Radhakrishnan had misused his post during the arrest of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in 2024 while holding the post of Governor of Jharkhand. Pawar said that in addition, CP Radhakrishnan was the Governor of Jharkhand. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by central agencies while going to Raj Bhavan. The Chief Minister had requested that he should not be arrested at Raj Bhavan. He will come out and surrender. But his request was not considered. In this way power was misused. Therefore, we cannot support those who do not believe in democracy.
On Thursday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sought support from Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP-SC leader Sharad Pawar for NDA Vice Presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan. Thackeray said that he would consider the request and reply after discussion, while Pawar indicated that his party would support the opposition candidate. Talking to reporters, Chief Minister Fadnavis said, “I spoke to Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar ji and requested him to support the candidature of Maharashtra Governor (CP Radhakrishnan) for the Vice Presidential election. Uddhav ji told me that he would discuss and tell me. Sharad Pawar ji said that Sharad Pawar ji said that he would have to go with the candidates who were given by the opposition.”
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Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that Radhakrishnan would serve as a “excellent” Vice President. Prime Minister Modi posted on social media, “With ministers, party colleagues and NDA leaders, I was with Thiru CP Radhakrishnan when he filed his nomination for the post of Vice President of India. The NDA family is confident that he would be an excellent Vice President and enriched our visit to national progress.”