India, Aug. 26 -- In the run-up to the September 9 vice-presidential election, former Supreme Court judge S Sudershan Reddy, who is the joint Opposition candidate, speaks about his criticism from a section of the ruling NDA over a 2011 verdict of the top court bench, which had included him, to disband Salwa Judum, a militia of the tribal population in Chhattisgarh which worked with police against Maoists. Edited excerpts of his interview to Saubhadra Chatterji:

Has Union home minister Amit Shah's criticism over the Salwa Judum verdict surprised you?

I am not at all surprised. They are trying to set up a narrative after 14 years of the judgment. The Vice President is not a political office. It is the second highest constitutional office ...