INDIA bloc hails Sudarshan Reddy as VP pick, pitches contest as fight to defend Constitution
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New Delhi: INDIA bloc MPs on Wednesday felicitated B Sudarshan Reddy on being chosen as their vice-presidential candidate. They hailed Reddy as an eminent jurist and projected the contest against NDA nominees as a clash between two ideologies."There is a fight going on between those attacking the Constitution and those defending the Constitution... Every single (Opposition) party has supported Reddy ji. He worked on the Telangana caste census , helped craft a vision of social justice for Telangana. As I was thinking what to say, I happened to look inside his pocket. And inside his pocket, there was the Constitution of India. He is carrying the Constitution of India with him everywhere... After about five minutes, he said to me, "Rahul, I have been carrying the Constitution in my pocket for 52 years... He said, because, in any legal conversation, the Constitution has the final answer...," said Rahul Gandhi at the event held at the old Parliament complex.Gandhi also referred to the abrupt resignation of former vice president Jagdeep Dhankar and said there was a story behind him quitting and going incommunicado. "The day the vice president resigned, Venugopal ji called me and said, 'The vice president is gone. There's a big story about why he resigned. Some of you might know it, some of you might not know it, but there's a story behind it, and then there's a story about why he's in hiding. Why is the vice president of India in a situation where he cannot say a word? Suddenly, the person who used to be very vocal in the Rajya Sabha has gone silent, completely silent. So, this is the time we're living in". Mallikarjun Kharge said Reddy "embodies the timeless value of justice, equality, and inclusivity that fuelled India's freedom movement and forms the bedrock of our Constitution".
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