Sir — After weeks of consultations ,the opposition parties have finally agreed on the candidature of former diplomat and Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the post of Vice-President of India. He is the grandson of both Mahatma Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari.
Naming their vice-presidential nominee, the opposition parties have been careful to not repeat the mistakes that had marked the selection of the presidential candidate. Now the BJP will be hard put to match this choice as it has been made well in time
However, it is still possible to outwit the Opposition if the NDA decides to. On merit, Gopalkrishna Gandhi deserves to occupy the office of the Vice-President and is a worthy successor to the incumbent, Hamid Ansari, and this time the Opposition is united in support, as 18 parties including the Janata Dal (United) have heartily endorsed his name.
As Governor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009, Gandhi had won many admirers with his bold criticism of the left Government’s handling of the Nandigram protests. He has spoken out whenever an occasion demanded, regardless of it pointing to the left or Right wing — be it the partisan role of the Central Bureau of Investigation or mob violence by ‘cow-protectors’.