'Not a battle, it's a clash of ideas': VP nominee Sudershan Reddy on polls

INDIA bloc's VP candidate B Sudershan Reddy said the election should be decent, free from personal attacks; he called it a contest of ideas, not a fight with NDA's Radhakrishnan

Ahead of the Vice Presidential election, INDIA bloc candidate and former Supreme Court judge B Sudershan Reddy said he wants the polls to be conducted with dignity, free from personal attacks or bitterness.

 

Speaking to news agency ANI on Saturday, Reddy said, “I want this to be one of the most decent elections held in recent times in India. No acrimony, no personal accusations, no comments about individuals, because a person aspiring to sit in that high constitutional office should practice what they preach.”

 

Reddy revealed that contesting the vice presidential election was not something he had ever planned. He said the idea was first proposed by the Congress. “I had never thought that I would contest the vice president elections... The move first came from the Congress party. Some important functionaries of the party set the ball rolling. I said it may be difficult for me to be the candidate of any one party, but if the INDIA alliance agrees, then I will contest," he said.   

 

 

‘This is not a battle, it is a clash of ideas’

 

The INDIA bloc nominee stressed that the contest should not be seen as a personal fight with NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan. Instead, he described it as a difference of ideology. “This is not a battle, it is a clash of ideas... The other side was propagating that there is a person here who has been a full member of the RSS all his life, so I disagree with that ideology, not with CP Radhakrishnan,” he said.

 

Reddy added that he has nothing personal against his rival, noting, “There is nothing personal between CP Radhakrishnan and me. We have never even met each other. I want this to be a decent contest, not between individuals but between two different ideologies.”

 

Highlighting his differences with the RSS, Reddy underlined his commitment to democratic and inclusive values. “I have no business to like or dislike any ideology, but I have my serious differences with the way it functions, because I am a liberal constitutional democrat. I believe in the idea of secularism, social justice and Babasaheb’s ideology of fraternity,” he said.   

 

‘Deficit in democracy’

 

Reddy said India faces a "deficit in democracy" and the Constitution is "under challenge", pledging to defend it.

 

In an interview with PTI, Reddy discussed his candidature, debates over ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ in the Preamble, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s accusation of him supporting Naxalism. He said, “Earlier, we used to talk about a deficit economy, now there is a deficit in democracy… We still continue to be a constitutional democracy, but under strain.”

 

Reddy emphasised democracy as a clash of ideas, not individuals, and welcomed debate on the Constitution. "I consider this journey to be the same, ultimately culminating in, if given an opportunity, to protect and defend the Constitution. Hitherto, I was upholding the Constitution and that is the oath administered to a judge... So this journey is nothing new to me," he said.

 

Nomination filed in presence of INDIA bloc leaders

 

On Thursday, B Sudershan Reddy filed his nomination papers in New Delhi. The event was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

 

The INDIA bloc had earlier announced Reddy as its candidate for the September 9 election, where he will face NDA’s CP Radhakrishnan.

 

(With agency inputs)