Opposition Enters Presidential Poll Battle With Dalit Vs Dalit Pitch
Sixteen opposition parties picked Meira Kumar jointly as their presidential nominee.
Sixteen opposition parties, led by the Congress, backed former Lok Sabha Speaker and Dalit leader Meira Kumar as their joint nominee for the post of the next President of India. She will take on National Democratic Alliance’s nominee Ram Nath Kovind in the election due next month.
Bihar Chief Minister and Janta Dal United leader Nitish Kumar on Wednesday declared support for Kovind, the former governor of Bihar. In fact, Kumar’s absence from the joint opposition meet where Meira Kumar was declared as a candidate was seen as a split in the opposition ranks.
The Rashtriya Janta Dal, headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, has meanwhile supported Meira Kumar’s nomination. In an interview to news agency ANI, Yadav said, “Nitishji called me, said that it is his personal decision. I would appeal to him to rethink. Won't break the alliance.”
JD(U) and RJD run an alliance government in Bihar.
With Meira Kumar’s nomination, the opposition led by the Congress attempted to put up a united fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But with the BJD, a faction of the AIADMK, the YSR Congress, the TRS, and now JD(U) extending support to Kovind, the numbers seem to be in his favour, wire agency PTI said in an earlier report.
