Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is likely to become the country's next Vice-President, with India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday naming him as its candidate for the coveted constitutional post. "Dhankhar is a 'kisan putra' (son of a farmer) who established himself as people's governor," party chief JP Nadda told the media, following the ruling outfit's parliamentary board meeting in Delhi this evening. The country's vice-presidential polls are slated for August. Born on 18 May, 1951, in Kithana, a small village in the western state of Rajasthan, to a farmer family, Dhankhar completed his graduation in law and entered politics at a young age. He subsequently became a member of the Rajasthan state assembly and then India's Parliament. He also served as a senior advocate with India's Supreme Court. The Vice-President is elected by an electoral college consisting of members of both Houses of Parliament -- the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) and the Lok Sabha (Lower House). The incumbent Vice-President, Venkaiah Naidu's five-year term ends on August 10.  

West Bengal's firebrand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar have clashed once again, this time over the latter's "the state is turning into a gas chamber of democracy" remark. On Monday, Mamata blocked the Governor from her microblogging platform Twitter's handle, claiming she was "getting irritated" by Dhankhar's repeated "unconstitutional" and "unethical" comments. "He (Jagdeep Dhankhar) tweets something every day abusing me or my officers. Says unconstitutional, unethical things. He instructs not advises. Treats an elected government like bonded labour. That's why I have blocked him from my Twitter account," Mamata told the media in capital Kolkata. The state's top constitutional figure -- appointed by the federal government -- and the head of the Bengal government have been at loggerheads on several occasions over political and governance issues in the past three years. READ: Mamata thanks Momen, highlights Bengal's proximity to Bangladesh Earlier too, the state had witnessed ugly spats between the two, with Mamata accusing the Governor of "attempting to destabilise the elected government" of her ruling Trinamool Congress party at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In May last year, Mamata single-handedly pulled off a landslide victory in the state election for the third time in a row, bucking anti-incumbency and staving off a massive challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP. READ: Momen greets Mamata; hopes to have closer ties with WB