Twenty Senior Advocates on Monday issued a joint statement expressing deep concern over the INDIA bloc candidate for the Vice Presidential election, B Sudarshan Reddy, for holding a private meeting with Lalu Prasad Yadav, saying, “This lapse represents a fundamental error in judgment.”
In a statement released by them, they said that the meeting of B Sudarshan Reddy, former Supreme Court judge, with Lalu Prasad Yadav, infamously convicted in the fodder scam case, cannot be justified by citing electoral considerations, as Yadav is neither a Member of Parliament nor is he eligible to vote in the Vice-Presidential electoral college.
Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav has been convicted in the fodder scam case, which involved the embezzlement of about INR 940 Crores of public funds from the State of Bihar.
The statement further noted that the meeting appears to serve no legitimate political purpose. For someone of Mr. Reddy’s stature, a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, and his ambition, which is to occupy one of the nation’s highest constitutional offices.
The statement added that this lapse, by an individual seeking to occupy an influential and prestigious constitutional post, represents a fundamental error in judgment, one that the public is bound to evaluate fully.
Occupy an influential and prestigious constitutional post represents a fundamental error in judgment, one that the public is bound to evaluate fully.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad also hits out at the INDIA bloc candidate, saying, “Sudershan Reddy has given a statement that vote for me to save the soul of the nation. He met RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is convicted in the fodder scam. What kind of a Retired Judge of the Supreme Court are you that you are meeting someone who is convicted of a scam? This is hypocrisy. Please don’t talk about the soul of the nation.”
The voting for the vice presidential elections is scheduled on Sept 9, 2025.
Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, as the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate, and a former Supreme Court judge (Retd.) B. Sudershan Reddy, as an INDIA bloc candidate, is in the battleground to contest the elections to be the next vice president.
CP Radhakrishnan headed for a comfortable victory.
