Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan was on Friday sworn in as the 15th Vice-President of India. He later assumed charge as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha in his office in Parliament.
President Droupadi Murmu administered oath to Radhakrishnan (67) at a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. Dressed in a red kurta, Radhakrishnan took oath in English in the name of god. President Murmu congratulated him after he took oath.
Radhakrishnan succeeds Jagdeep Dhankhar, who suddenly resigned from the post on July 21 citing health reasons, necessitating an election. Radhakrishanan won the vice-presidential election on Tuesday, defeating joint Opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy by a margin of 152 votes.
Dhankhar was present at the ceremony, his first public appearance since his resignation as the vice president. He was seated in the front row, next to his predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu and was seen conversing with him. Another former vice president, Hamid Ansari, was seated next to Naidu. Dhankhar’s wife, Sudesh Dhankhar, was also present on the occasion.
Besides Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda were in the front row across the aisle.
Chief Justice of India BR Gavai was present and was seated next to Birla. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and some other Opposition leaders attended the ceremony and shook hands with Radhakrishnan. Kharge was seated in the second row.
Dhankhar’s term was
till August 10, 2027. Radhakrishnan will hold office till September 11, 2030.
Radhakrishnan is the third leader from Tamil Nadu to occupy the coveted post.
The vice president is the ex-officio chairman of the Upper House of Parliament.
He also paid homage to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Sadaiv Atal and offered tributes to former prime minister Charan Singh at Kisan Ghat.
Back in the Parliament House, he assumed charge as the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. Radhakrishnan offered floral tributes at the statues of eminent leaders, freedom fighters and social reformers at the Prerna Sthal in the Parliament House complex, where he was welcomed by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal and L Murugan. Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody was also present.
He planted a sapling in the Parliament House complex and later, signed some official papers soon after assuming charge as the chairman.
Separately, the Union home ministry issued a notification announcing that Radhakrishnan entered the vice president’s office on September 12.
Described as a “Pachai Tamizhan” (true-blue Tamil) by well-wishers, Radhakrishnan was serving as the Governor of Maharashtra when he was named as the vice-presidential nominee of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Radhakrishnan on Tuesday described his election to the second-highest constitutional post in the country as a victory of the nationalistic ideology and vowed to work towards making India a developed nation by 2047.