KOVIND’S VILLAGE CELEBRATES
KANPUR: The residents of Paraukhan village in Kanpur Dehat broke into celebration on Monday soon after the BJP named Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind as its presidential candidate . Villagers lit diyas and distributed sweets after Kovind’s candidature was announced.
“Though he is a busy person , he meets villagers and listens to their grievances. When he visited the village after becoming the governor of Bihar, he did not miss any occasion to meet us,” a resident of the village, Kamlesh Kumar, said.
However, there are signs that all the opposition parties might not share the same views when it comes to Kovind’s nomination. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said she can’t take a “negative” stand on a dalit candidate.
“Our stand will be positive provided the opposition does not field any Dalit for the top post,” she said.
The Left, which has been backing Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s candidature, was in no mood to quit without a fight. “There will be a contest,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told Hindustan Times.
On his part, Gopalkrishna Gandhi said he hoped for “the best thing” to happen for India.
“May the one chosen by destiny to occupy the onerous office this year bring to it something of Rajen babu’s sagacity, Dr Radhakrishnan’s wisdom and Zakir sahib’s nobility, and a large measure of the alert independent-mindedness of President R Narayanan,” he said.
When asked if he is opting out of the contest, Gandhi replied, “I had never entered a contest as no name whether mine or anyone else’s had been decided upon.”
Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar is also seen as a possible Opposition Presidential candidate NEW DELHI The BJP’s Ram Nath Kovind is all set to be the country’s first President born and brought up in Uttar Pradesh.
Till now the Rashtrapati Bhavan’s third occupant, Zakir Hussain, was the only one with direct association with the key state. But he wasn’t born in UP. His family migrated to Farukkhabad from Hyderabad, his place of birth in what’s now Telangana.
Of the 13 Prime Ministers starting from Pandit Nehru, seven were from UP. It isn’t surprising then that presidencies went to other provinces; the imperatives of representative democracy necessitating regional parity in selection of candidates for high constitutional offices.
From the BJP’s standpoint, the elevation of Kovind -- born in 1945 in Derapur sub-division of what is now Kanpur Dehat -will fetch it the credit for installing a Dalit as the country’s President. The only President from Scheduled Caste before him was KR Narayanan, the 13th incumbent.
Kovind isn’t as erudite as his predecessor who was a student of Harold Laski. It was the latter’s recommendation to Nehru that fetched him a job in the Indian Foreign Service.
Barring unforeseen circumstances, Kovind’s election should be a foregone conclusion. He will bring to the high office his parliamentary experience as two-term member of the Rajya Sabha. He also practised law for over 15 years in high court and the Supreme Court.
Be that as it may, a political consensus appears unlikely on Kovind’s candidature. At the same time, it will be difficult for Opposition parties to reject