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New Delhi: Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, the Opposition’s candidate for Vice President, has lived a journey that mirrors both grit and commitment to the law. His story is not the usual tale of a politician. Politics barely touched his life until now.

A childhood rooted in the soil

Born in Andhra Pradesh’s Rangareddy district, he hails from an unassuming agrarian family. Armed with a value system shaped by his early life in rural India, Justice Reddy remains unpretentious, modest and pragmatic, even as education paved the way to a distinguished legal career.

B Sudershan Reddy’s story is not the usual tale of a politician. In fact, politics barely touched his life until now. Born on 8 July 1946 in Akula Mylaram, a small village in Andhra Pradesh’s Rangareddy district, he grew up in a farmer’s household where education was a prized escape. The boy from the fields carried that ambition to Hyderabad, where he studied law at Osmania University and graduated in 1971.

The making of a lawyer

That same year, he signed up with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh. The courts became his world. Under the mentorship of senior lawyer K. Pratap Reddy, he worked on civil disputes and constitutional cases. Those who saw him in court say he wasn’t flashy. There were no theatrics, but a careful way of speaking and a patience that often outlasted his opponents.

On behalf of the govt

By 1988, the government had noticed. He was made a pleader for Andhra Pradesh in the High Court and, briefly, counsel for the Centre. He also returned to Osmania, this time as its legal adviser. The work was steady rather than spectacular, but it built his reputation as a dependable lawyer.

Climbing the judicial ladder

The judiciary came calling in 1993 when he was appointed a judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Two years later, he was confirmed as a permanent judge. The climb was slow but solid: by 2005, he was Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, and in 2007, he reached the Supreme Court of India. His tenure there lasted until his retirement in 2011. The judgments he wrote were not headline-grabbing, but lawyers recall a certain fairness, even restraint, in his approach.

Beyond retirement

Retirement did not take him completely out of public life. In 2013, he was named Goa’s first Lokayukta. The appointment was seen as a recognition of his clean image, though he resigned a few months later, citing personal reasons. Even after that, he remained tied to the legal world through arbitration and mediation work in Hyderabad.

Now in the unfamiliar arena of electoral politics

Now, at 78, he steps into the hitherto unfamiliar arena of electoral politics. He finds himself in a role he would have seldom thought of: the Opposition’s candidate for Vice President. For a man whose life has been defined by law and public service, the nomination brings him into the thick of national politics — a stage far removed from the quiet courtrooms where his professional journey began. Whether he wins or not, Justice Reddy’s name has already travelled far beyond the courtroom, back into the heat of national debate.