Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said his party welcomes with an open mind the candidacy of Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan for the post of vice president but remained non-committal on supporting him as "he is an NDA candidate".
"We are happy that he is the vice presidential candidate. Before him (then Maharashtra governor) Shankar Dayal Sharma was vice president and went on to become the president. When any person linked to Maharashtra is selected for such a constitutional post, we welcome it with an open mind," Raut told reporters in New Delhi.
"But he (Radhakrishnan) is an NDA candidate and Shiv Sena-UBT is a part of the INDIA bloc," Raut pointed out.
The Rajya Sabha MP said AICC general secretary K C Venugopal spoke to Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray over the opposition's candidate for the vice-president's election next month.
When Thackeray had come to New Delhi last week, there was a deliberation on the VP candidate and he conveyed his opinion to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, said Raut.
"We will discuss it (the opposition candidate) with Kharge (on Monday). I do not feel the Shiv Sena-UBT should have any independent stand on this issue because Radhakrishnan is an NDA nominee and we have to take a different decision as INDIA bloc with consensus," he said.
If the INDIA bloc and NDA develop consensus then Shiv Sena-UBT will also be part of that process, Raut added.
Chandrapuram Ponnusamy Radhakrishnan, a seasoned Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Tamil Nadu with a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh background, was on Sunday named the vice-presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
BJP president J P Nadda made the announcement following a meeting of the party's parliamentary board, which included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and consulting the party's allies.