India, Sept. 9 -- The ruling BJP-led NDA's candidate CP Radhakrishnan's election on Tuesday as the Vice President of India does not carry a surprise. Numbers were already stacked up for him. But it sends out key signals that go far beyond New Delhi and the now.

His personality and history have much to do with it.

Radhakrishnan's win underscores a renewed southward foray of the BJP in choosing a Tamil Nadu leader for the post, as the state goes to polls next year. Plus, the party has chosen lifelong loyalty in RSS veteran Radhakrishnan, which means a clean break from someone like Jagdeep Dhankhar who had a winding political career.

There are other reasons, too - he is from a caste among the Other Backward Classes (OBC), for instance.

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