Telangana CM Revanth Reddy holds meeting with Congress MPs, backs Justice Sudershan Reddy for VP

New Delhi [India], September 9 (ANI): Telangana Chief Minister Reventh Reddy on Tuesday held a meeting with Congress MPs from the state ahead of the voting for the Vice Presidential election.
Speaking after the meeting, Congress MP Mallu Ravi said, "The mood of the nation is to elect Justice Sudershan Reddy as the Vice President of India, as everyone knows that he is committed to protecting democracy and the Constitution."
"The NDA candidate himself has written to all MPs saying that he is from RSS and Jan Sangh, which is not acceptable to many party members of the NDA. So, they may cross-vote for Sudershan Reddy. There will be a miracle this evening when Sudershan Reddy will be elected. Both Hanuman Beniwal and Chandrasekhar came only to support him. But what went wrong with the BRS, TDP, and YSR Congress people in supporting Sudershan Reddy when other leaders from Rajasthan and UP are coming forward to support him and protect the Constitution?..." he said.
Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury said, "We must understand why this situation arose. BJP quickly removed a vice president, and now everyone faces pressure to vote. I don't want to talk about other parties, but I will definitely speak about BRS. For Telugu speakers, this is a crucial issue and opportunity."
"A man from the south, who served for Telangana for his whole life and made important decisions as a Supreme Court judge, is it not shameful that BRS wouldn't vote for a Telugu man? Are their intentions pure?... Whether BRS votes for them or not, it won't make a difference because they (BJP and BRS) are linked with each other... BRS say one thing in Telangana and does something else when in Delhi. They do the same thing repeatedly in many bills and elections... Our candidate is a very good person. Morally, we will win..." she said.
Voting for the 15th Vice Presidential election began on Tuesday morning, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi exercising his franchise as the first voter, along with other prominent ministers and MPs. The counting of votes is scheduled for the evening.
NDA's CP Radhakrishnan is contesting against the joint opposition candidate B. Sudershan Reddy.
It seems that NDA's candidate CP Radhakrishnan has an edge with 427 MPs, well above the majority mark of 391, supporting him for the post.
In the Lok Sabha, Radhakrishnan is expected to receive 293 votes, and 134 votes are likely to be cast in his favour in the Rajya Sabha.
Joint opposition candidate Reddy is backed by 354 MPs, with 249 in the lower house and 105 in the upper house of the Parliament.
Currently, the Parliament comprises 781 members, including 542 in the Lok Sabha with one seat vacant and 239 in the Rajya Sabha with five seats vacant.
The VP election is being held 50 days after Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post as the Vice President of India on July 21, citing health reasons. (ANI)