Telangana CM Revanth’s advice for Modi govt: make BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya V-P to ‘amend mistake’

Next V-P should be from Telangana because last time there were talks that Venkaiah Naidu could be made President but he faced injustice and was sent back, says Revanth Reddy.

File photo of Telangana CM Revanth Reddy with former Haryana and Himachal Pradesh Governor Bandaru Dattatreya | X @Dattatreya

New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy believes veteran BJP leader and former Governor Bandaru Dattatreya should be the next Vice President of India, following the abrupt resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post on 21 July.

Addressing a press conference here Wednesday, Reddy, one of the three sitting Congress chief ministers, said BJP has an opportunity to “amend its mistake” of having “slighted” leaders from the Telugu-speaking state, such as M. Venkaiah Naidu and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, by elevating Dattatreya.

“The next Vice President should be from Telangana because last time there were talks that M. Venkaiah Naidu could be made the President of India. But he faced injustice and was sent back. A person who speaks the Telugu language was sent back,” Reddy said, referring to how Naidu was not elevated to the President’s post after his term as V-P ended in August 2022.

Reddy, who is in the capital to make a presentation on his government’s caste survey to the Congress leadership and party MPs Thursday, said Dattatreya was an ideal candidate to succeed Dhankhar. Last month, while launching Dattatreya’s autobiography in Hyderabad, Reddy had called the BJP leader an “ajatashatru” (one with no enemies).

“When Dattatreya was a Union minister, the position was taken from him and given to G. Kishan Reddy. Later, Bandi Sanjay Kumar was BJP state president but a Brahmin, N. Ramchander Rao, replaced him. So the NDA has finished all OBC leaders from South, particularly Telangana. So they should make amends and make Dattatreya the Vice President,” Reddy said.

Dattatreya, who has had a long inning with the BJP having started his career with the RSS, was dropped from the Union Council of Ministers in 2017—made to resign ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle. In 2019, he was made the Governor of Himachal Pradesh and later of Haryana, in 2021.

Asked if he will get the INDIA bloc to support a possible candidate of Dattatreya, Reddy said he would definitely request the Congress leadership to consider the proposal on behalf of the people of Telangana.

(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)