Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar faced fresh calls from ally and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and opposition parties to reconsider the JD(U)’s support to NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind but he stood his ground.
Describing the Congress-led opposition nominee Meira Kumar as “Bihar ki Beti” , Prasad appealed to Kumar for the second time in two days to “mend the historic blunder” in extending the JD(U)’s backing to Kovind. Meira Kumar’s candidature was announced on Thursday.
Kovind was the governor of Bihar before being chosen as the NDA nominee for the July 17 presidential polls billed as a ‘Dalit versus Dalit’ contest.
The CPI also urged Kumar as well as BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik to re-consider their decision to support Kovind.
But Kumar stuck to his stand, saying the presidential election should not become an issue of confrontation.
“It is an election for President. It should not become an issue of confrontation,” he told reporters after visiting Prasad’s residence.
“There is no doubt about the result. We have lot of respect for ‘Bihar Ki Beti’ (Meira Kumar). But the question is has Bihar Ki Beti been chosen to lose?”
Kumar said the decision to support Kovind was taken at the meeting of JD(U)’s core committee.
“We have taken this decision after thinking on all aspects. And as far as JD(U) is concerned, it has always taken independent decisions, even when we were a part of NDA. We supported Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA candidate that time.”he said.
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