Who is Jagdeep Dhankhar, NDA's vice presidential candidate?

New Delhi: Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is currently serving as the Governor of West Bengal, was on Saturday announced as BJP-led NDA's candidate for vice presidential election scheduled for 6 August.

BJP president JP Nadda made the announcement after a meeting of the BJP parliamentary board in the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan among others attended the meeting.

Nadda said Dhankhar has been in public life for nearly three decades and described the Jat leader as a 'kisan putra'.

Here's a look at Jagdeep Dhankhar's life and career:

He was born on 18 May, 1951 in Kithana village of Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district. He is married to Sudesh Dhankhar and they have a daughter, named Kamna.

Dhankhar, who has in the past claimed to be a 'reluctant politician' graduated with honours in physics from Maharaja's College in Jaipur and an LLB degree from Jaipur University in 1978-79. Before that he had schooled at Sainik School, Chittorgarh on a full merit scholarship after his primary education from the government school at village Kithana in Jhunjhunu

A lawyer by profession, he was enrolled with the Bar Council of Rajasthan as an Advocate with effect from 10 November, 1979. He was elected President of the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, Jaipur in 1987. Dhankhar, who practised in Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court, was designated a senior advocate in 1990.

Dhankhar forayed into politics in 1989 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan that same year and became a Union Minister in 1990 and served as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. He was also a member of the Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha from 1993 to 1998 representing Kishangarh constituency.

According to PTI, Dhankhar, like most Jat leaders from his time, was originally associated with Devi Lal and his political career began to surge when as a young lawyer at that time, he was picked up by Lal as the Opposition candidate in 1989 from Jhunjhunu Parliamentary Constituency, then a Congress citadel, and he won. He followed his mentor Devi Lal when the latter walked out of the VP Singh government and became a Union Minister in 1990 in the minority government led by Chandrashekhar.

Later on, he joined the Congress when PV Narsimha Rao became the prime minister and Devi Lal was no more that effective. But with the rise of Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan politics, he shifted to the BJP and is said to have become close to Vasundhara Raje soon after. But, a big gap was to follow soon in his political career and he got more focussed on his legal career for over a decade.

Governor of West Bengal

Dhankhar was appointed Governor of West Bengal in July 2019 and has since had a tumultuous relationship with Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the state. The TMC leadership has often accused him of acting as an "agent of the BJP", while the saffron party in the state looked upon him as an upholder of constitutional norms.

On his part, Dhankhar has claimed he has gone by the rule book and the Constitution in pointing out issues to the Mamata Banerjee government and the state legislature.

(With inputs from PTI)