"BJP has forced the Vice President elections on Opposition": VCK Founder-President Thol Thirumavalavan

Viluppuram (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 28 (ANI): VCK Founder-President Thol Thirumavalavan has slammed the BJP for "forcing" former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar to resign, an action he claims has created a "crisis" in the country. He also urged all members of Parliament from the Opposition parties to vote for INDIA bloc's Vice-Presidential nominee, former Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy.
"The BJP has forced the Vice President elections on us. They have already forced the Vice President to resign. No one knows his condition yet...It is shocking that such a crisis has been created in our country by the BJP and RSS," Thirumavalavan told reporters in Viluppuram on Wednesday.
"Someone with the right understanding and courage is needed to protect the Constitution. Therefore, all members of Parliament from the democratic forces should vote for the INDIA alliance's VP candidate, B. Sudershan Reddy. We request that the votes of the opposition parties should not be scattered," he added.
The election for the Vice President of India will feature a direct contest between Justice Reddy and the NDA's nominee, C P Radhakrishnan.
The Election Commission had earlier announced that polling for the Vice Presidential election would take place on September 9, with counting to take place the same day. The Vice Presidential post fell vacant after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 21, citing health reasons.
Recently, Sudershan Reddy stated that the election for Vice President is not a battle but a clash of ideologies, while highlighting that he disagrees with the ideology, not CP Radhakrishnan, the NDA candidate for the position.
While talking to ANI, Sudershan Reddy said, "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 added that he has nothing personal against NDA candidate CP Radhakrishnan, "There is nothing personal between CP Radhakrishnan and me. We have never even met each other. So I wanted this to be a decent contest, not between individuals but between two different ideologies."
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday extended its support for Reddy's candidature.
CPI(M) General Secretary MA Baby described the Vice Presidential poll as a "political, ideological, and cultural struggle" that has brought the Opposition together behind Sudershan Reddy's candidature. (ANI)