PM Modi casts first vote as Vice-Presidential election begins

4 months ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast the first vote as polling for the Vice-Presidential election began at 10 am. The BJP-led NDA has fielded Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, while the opposition INDIA bloc has nominated former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy.

Transcript

00:00Shahzad Poonawala has been wanting to make a point. Shahzad Poonawala, let's turn this around.

00:04This would be, whatever the margin, if it sticks to what it is on paper,

00:09would be one of the closest margins ever of victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

00:15I think the last time it was, was in 97 when Surjit Singh Ji lost,

00:20and then it was Sushil Kumar Shinde who lost, I think, in 2002.

00:24And Aarti Jairath is free to correct me. She knows, you know, the VP elections over decades more than I.

00:29But, so this, the margin would be much lesser, Shahzad Poonawala.

00:33And the sheer fact, those who voted with you the last time around, allies or those who have supported you,

00:39are sitting this one out. They are abstaining.

00:42First of all, let me extend a warm welcome to our fellow panelist, advocate Mahima Singh.

00:49Chalo, she has come before Rahul has landed back from Malaysia or wherever he was.

00:53To aapka bhaut bhaut swagat hai, Mahima ji.

00:56Chalo, aap aadhe ghante hi late hai in a ghante ke debate. Koi samashya nahi hai.

00:59Now, coming to the moot point.

01:01Preeti ji, you cover politics far, far too long for me to explain to you

01:05that neither BJD nor BRS was ever part of the ND Alliance.

01:09In fact, if they were having such a great candidate,

01:12at least they should have convinced YSRCP,

01:14which is from the same region that they are trying to play the regional card from.

01:17Even YSRCP is not voting with them.

01:20And by the way, what has Mahima ji just said?

01:22MIM is voting for us.

01:24Preeti, how many debates we have done where they say,

01:26MIM to aapki bteam, MIM aapki bteam, MIM aapki bteam.

01:30And when it's important, Raywant Reddy gets on hotline with OVC Saab.

01:34Janab vote chahiye.

01:35And OVC Saab, Janab, le lo vote.

01:37And then we will come and say this is our bteam.

01:39So today, Mahima Singh has for posterity shown that they are chote miya, bade miya with MIM

01:44and with Aam Admi Party.

01:46Now, let's come to the next point.

01:51Preeti ji, just before coming in this segment,

01:53you have shown the bite of Sudarshan Reddy.

01:56You saw how arrogantly he was behaving.

01:58I mean, now the vice president is not the last vote.

02:01And you are so arrogant.

02:03And Madam Mahima Singh ji was saying,

02:05where is our VP candidate?

02:07Madam, you are looking in the wrong place.

02:09If you look outside Lalu ji's house,

02:11and you look outside Chara Ghotala,

02:13then you will find our candidate.

02:14You will find him in Ram Mandir.

02:16You will find him with the people of the country.

02:18You will look at only the Chara Ghotala Baas,

02:20then you will not find him.

02:21But Mahima ji, last question,

02:23because you are a reputed, very big lawyer.

02:25The Ashok's thumb was desecrated.

02:27It is a symbol of India, pride,

02:29not a communal symbol.

02:30It is symbol and pride of Ashok Samrat, Bihar also.

02:33What is the stand of India Alliance?

02:35Because Tari Kanwar has supported the desecrators.

02:37If you are for constitution,

02:39condemn the desecrators and say Tari Kanwar is wrong.

02:42Alright, okay.

02:43I want to bring in, I will come back to you Mahima Singh.

02:44You want to come in for a rebutter?

02:45Allow me to bring in Aarti Jairat as well,

02:47into this conversation.

02:48Aarti Jairat, you know,

02:50let's for a moment right now

02:52step out of, you know,

02:54the politics of it all

02:56and just journalistic inquisition.

02:58If you look back Aarti Jairat,

03:00this would, at least,

03:02if we stick to what looks on paper,

03:0480 shot for India Alliance,

03:06halfway mark,

03:0830 over the halfway mark for the NDA,

03:10would be one of the narrowest margins ever of victory.

03:14And, you know,

03:16I think that is why also this is probably the most hard,

03:22you know, the most,

03:24what should I say, the most, you know,

03:26strongly contested election.

03:28You know, in the past,

03:30how much attention have we really paid to the VP election?

03:33You know, it's always just passed off,

03:35sort of, by the way,

03:36and then we announce the name of the victor

03:39and who the next vice president will be.

03:41But this time there's a lot of interest

03:43that has been generated.

03:44I think, firstly, because of the manner

03:46in which the previous vice president exited,

03:49you know, two years before his tenure ended,

03:52which has necessitated this, you know,

03:54sort of advanced election for the vice president.

03:58And secondly, because of the, you know,

04:00state politics today,

04:02where each side wants to do a one-upmanship

04:06all the time on every issue,

04:09even on the issue of the vice president,

04:12which at the end of the day is a constitutional post.

04:15And really,

04:16it should not be subject to this kind of politicking

04:20that we're seeing today.

04:22It's unfortunate, actually.

04:23All right.

04:24You know, this is actually the second highest constitutional post in India.

04:27Yes.

04:28Yes.

PM Modi casts first vote as Vice-Presidential election begins

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