It will be Meira Kumar versus Kovind for the Presidents post . There will be voting and it is likely that Kovind will win the election for the post of the President of India.The decision to field Meira Kumar, 72, was “unanimous” said the Left’s Sitaram Yechury. Among those who attended the meeting was Satish Mishra of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Mayawati, herself a Dalit icon, had indicated that she did not want to be seen as blocking a Dalit candidate’s rise to the top office in the country.
The BJP and allies now have well over 60 per cent of the vote with the support of several regional parties including both factions of the AIADMK, but the opposition parties say a contest will symbolise “a battle of ideologies”.
The anti-BJP front was left considerably diminished by Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, exiting the bloc to support the BJP’s candidate.
Lalu Yadav said after the meeting, “I appeal to Nitish Kumar to support the daughter of Bihar.” Congress leader in Bihar Ashok Choudhary too has appealed to Nitish Kumar to change his mind now that the opposition has picked a Dalit candidate from Bihar in Ms Kumar.
But Pawan Varma of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United said there was no question of the party changing its mind. “We have applied our mind and will stick to Kovind… The opposition is now just offering a token fight.”
