Hyderabad: Union minister Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu is being considered as one of the front runners for the post of Vice-President.
Nominations for the election to the post will close on Tuesday and polling will be held on August 5. The Opposition has already selected Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its nominee.
It is expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would formally announce the name of the NDA nominee on Monday night after holding formal consultations with the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board and with NDA partners. Mr Naidu, though, has gone on record indicating his reluctance to take up the job, quipping that he wanted to remain “Usha Pati” (husband of Usha, the name of his wife) and not become Upa-Rashtrapati (Vice-President), but indications are that he is the front runner.
Sources said BJP president Amit Shah had indicated the party’s preference to Mr Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday evening, to which the minister reportedly replied that he wanted to remain in active politics.
