New Delhi: Hours after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was named the vice-presidential candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday, Jhunjhunu district in Rajasthan, his native place, erupted into celebrations, news agency ANI reported. “People are celebrating like Diwali in our village. All are very happy as he has made the village proud,” ANI quoted one the villagers saying.
People in Kithana, the native village of Dhankhar, distributed sweets to celebrate the announcement made earlier in the day.
Born in an agrarian household in a remote village in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, Dhankhar completed his school education from Sainik School in Chittorgarh.
After completing his graduation in Physics, he pursued LLB from the University of Rajasthan.
Despite being a first generation professional, he became one of the leading lawyers in the state. Dhankhar has practiced in both Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court of India.
He entered public life after getting elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) from Jhunjhunu in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections.
Subsequently, he also served as a Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in 1990.
In 1993, Dhankhar was elected to the Rajasthan assembly from the Kishangarh constituency in Ajmer district.
Later, in July 2019, he was appointed as the Governor of West Bengal.
After the BJP’s parliamentary board meeting, party chief JP Nadda said, “NDA's candidate for the post of Vice-President of India to be Jagdeep Dhankhar.”
Taking to his Twitter handle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote, “Kisan Putra Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji is known for his humility. He brings with him an illustrious legal, legislative and gubernatorial career. He has always worked for the well-being of farmers, youth, women and the marginalised. Glad that he will be our VP candidate.”