Bhubaneswar: Taking a surprise call, Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced his party would support UPA’s candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the upcoming vice presidential poll.
Gandhi is a close friend of Naveen Patnaik. They have known each other much before he entered politics, Naveen has said in the past.
Interestingly, BJD on Monday voted in favour of NDA’s candidate Ramnath Kovind for the post of President of India. The BJP led NDA announced to field M. Venkaiah Naidu as their Vice Presidential candidate yesterday.
The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college comprising members of both the Houses of Parliament, including nominated members.
The term of the incumbent Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari is ending on 10th of August this year. The polling will be held on August 5 and counting will take place the same day.
Ms Kalinga