Meira Kumar, the opposition’s presidential nominee, asserted that she was not a “scapegoat” in the upcoming election to the country’s top constitutional post as she was fighting for an ideology.
“Anybody fighting for an ideology and appealing to the voice of conscience cannot be a scapegoat. I am a fighter and I will fight and I am sure that many will join me in this fight,” she said in response to a question whether she was being made a scapegoat in the presidential election.
Union minister and Republican Party of India (RPI) leader Ramdas Athawale took a jibe at the Congress saying it was using Kumar as a “scapegoat” by fielding her as the opposition candidate in the July 17 presidential election. Seventeen opposition parties have fielded Kumar as their joint candidate in the presidential election against NDA’s nominee Ram Nath Kovind.Kumar, a former Lok Sabha speaker and the daughter of iconic Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram, was speaking to reporters after meeting the Congress MPs and MLAs at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bengaluru.
To a question on her not having the support of enough lawmakers, Kumar said she was fighting the poll on values and principles which were “sacred” to the people of the country. “Wherever I go, people tell me that I do not have the numbers. If I do not have the numbers, why don’t you round up the figures and declare the results? Why have the elections?,” she wondered.
Pointing out that she launched her campaign from the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, Kumar said, “I am carrying forward those values and principles which are sacred to most of my countrymen and women. “Someone has to take them up. I am taking up your fight also….you want me to withdraw? Do you want me to get defeated? I am simply fighting.”
