Will Jagdeep Dhankhar make it to the Rashtrapati Bhawan in 2027?

Vice President Dhankhar's presidential dreams are clouded by controversies and BJP's history of political sidelining.

- S N M ABDI

Two big names echoed inside and outside Parliament during the just-concluded tumultuous winter session - Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and Jagdeep Dhankhar - for entirely different reasons. The late Ambedkar, of course, needs no introduction. Dhankhar, while obviously not in Ambedkar's league, holds the second-highest constitutional post in the country as Vice President. Moreover, he is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha - a high-profile role that has inevitably thrust him into the national limelight.

As the dust settles after one of the most bitter and stormy Parliament sessions in the history of the republic, one can't help but ask whether Dhankhar will get the "next promotion" - as Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge put it. In other words, what are Dhankhar's prospects of becoming the President of India? Will the Bharatiya Janata Party send him to Rashtrapati Bhawan in 2027 when President Droupadi Murmu's term expires for all he has done for the BJP?