Presidential election: Meira Kumar to take on NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind
Delhi: Former Lok Sabha speaker and senior Congress leader Meira Kumar, a Dalit, is Opposition’s candidate to take on NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind for Presidential election.
The decision was taken after 17 Opposition parties met in the national capital on Thursday to pick their candidate.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Sharad Pawar (NCP), Sitaram Yechury from CPI(M), D Raja (CPI), Darek O’ Brien (TMC), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), Omar Abdullah (NC), Kanimozhi (DMK) and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge were among those who attended the meet.
With Kovind also being a Dalit, this makes it a Dalit vs Dalit Presidential contest.
“We have decided to field the name of Meira Kumar for the presidential election. We do hope that other parties also join us,” Sonia said.
Her party colleague, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Kumar was a unanimous choice.
“Daughter of freedom fighter Jagjivan Ram, Meira Kumar is an experienced leader and has served in various capacities,” he said.
Pawar proposed three names – Kumar, former union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar, both Dalits from Maharashtra.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury put forward the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of BR Ambedkar, as per PTI.
Kumar is a lawyer and a former diplomat and is a five-time Member of Parliament.
She was elected unopposed as the first woman speaker of Lok Sabha and served from 2009 to 2014.
Yesterday, Kumar’s meeting with Sonia at her residence had fuelled speculation that she had emerged as the front runner.
Apart from her, other names which had been doing the rounds were those of BR Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar and former minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
On the other hand, in a surprise move, the BJP had announced on June 19 that the low- profile Kovind (Bihar Governor) was the National Democratic Alliance’s Presidential candidate.
If elected, the 71- year-old former lawyer will become India’s 14th president and would be only the second Dalit to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan after KR Narayanan.
The BJP’s pick, a former two-time Rajya Sabha MP, had not figured in the names that were doing the rounds.
The rumour mills had put BJP veterans LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu as amongst the probables.
Meanwhile, cracks had appeared in the Opposition ahead of today’s crucial meeting, with the JD(U) deciding to stay out of the talks after extending its support to NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind yesterday.
The Presidential election is scheduled for July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee’s term is till July 24.
The electoral college, which elects the president through the system of proportional representation, comprises elected MPs and members of state legislative assemblies – a total of 4,896 voters including 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs.
The total strength of the electoral college is 10,98,903.
(With Agency and Zee news inputs)
