The INDIA bloc Tuesday named Hyderabad- based former Supreme Court Judge Justice (Retd) and veteran socialist ideologue B Sudershan Reddy its candidate for the September 9 vice-presidential elections against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s C P Radhakrishnan.
Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge, terming Justice Reddy one of India’s most distinguished and progressive jurists, said the upcoming elections for the post of the vice-president were “an ideological battle” with the Opposition standing united.
“All Opposition parties have nominated Shri B Sudershan Reddy garu as their joint candidate for the position of the Vice President of India,” Kharge announced, adding that Justice Reddy had been a consistent and courageous champion of social, economic and political justice.
All Opposition MPs are scheduled to meet at 1 pm on Wednesday in the Central Hall of the old Parliament building to be formally introduced to the nominee. Reddy’s nomination for the Vice-Presidential election will be filed on August 21.
Born on July 8, 1946 to a farmer family in Akula Mylaram village of in the Rangareddy district of undivided Andhra Pradesh (presently in Telangana), B Sudershan Reddy completed his BA, LLB from Osmania University in Hyderabad in 1971 and got enrolled as an advocate at Hyderabad with the Bar Council of undivided Andhra Pradesh on December 27 the same year.
He practised in Writ and Civil matters in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and worked as a Government Pleader during 1988-90. He was Additional Standing Counsel for the Central Government for six months in 1990 and also worked as a Legal Adviser and Standing Counsel for Osmania University.
Justice Reddy was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on May 2, 1995 and was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on December 5, 2005. He was elevated to the Supreme Court on January 12, 2007 and retired on July 8, 2011. He became the first Lokayukta of Goa in March 2013 but resigned in September 2013 citing personal reasons.
Known as an independent-minded judge with high integrity, Justice Reddy heard the Black Money Case in which he had ordered the setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe black money stashed abroad.
He headed the Bench which in 2011 declared the Chhattisgarh Government’s use of armed tribal youth as “Special Police Officers” (Salwa Judum) unconstitutional. He was also a part of the Constitution Bench that declared natural gas a national asset under government control.