Bihar governor Kovind is BJP’s pick for president

Opposition likely to name candidate but numbers are on BJP’s side

Bihar governor and Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind is the BJP’s choice for India’s next President, the party announced on Monday, in a surprise pick apparently aimed at reaching out to the country’s backward and marginalised communities.

Kovind, 71, is expected to win the July 17 presidential polls and succeed Pranab Mukherjee as India’s head of state, a largely ceremonial figure elected by parliamentarians and state legislators (see graphic).

“Ram Nath Kovind has always fought for the betterment of the Dalits and other backward castes,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah said at a press conference.

“The BJP... hopes that a person born in a poor family of low-caste Dalit community will be a consensus candidate for the president’s post,” he added.

Kovind, who arrived in Delhi in the evening, said he will seek support of all MPs and MLAs.

“I think I will have the support and blessings of every citizen of India,” he told reporters before meeting the BJP president.

Though the BJP was expected to name a Dalit, Kovind’s candidature came as a surprise because of his relative anonymity in the country’s mainstream politics.

However, the Congress had sprung a similar surprise in 2007 by nominating Pratibha Patil, who became India’s 12th President.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Kovind “will make an exceptional President”.

Modi also called up his predecessor Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to seek support for Kovind, a former lawyer who was appointed Bihar governor in 2015.

However, some Opposition parties including the Congress and the Left indicated they were bracing for a contest.

“Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections,” senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, even as he accused the BJP of taking a “unilateral decision”. He said the “final call” will be taken in a meeting on June 22.

The BJP earlier held discussions with opposition leaders separately for a consensus on the elections but did not reveal its choice.

Amit Shah said Kovind was selected after party’s parliamentary board discussed a “long list” of probable candidates that included external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Kovind’s candidature is likely to help the BJP woo the Dalit communities that make up for about 17% of India’s population and are electorally significant in many states, such as Uttar Pradesh that gave the NDA 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.

The BJP is battling allegations of bias against lower castes after a series of incidents, including the suicide by Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad and the flogging of four youth in Gujarat, Modi’s home state, after being falsely accused of killing a cow, an animal Hindus consider sacred.

If elected, Kovind will be second Dalit leader, after KR Narayanan, to become India’s president.

Kovind’s nomination could, however, leave the opposition divided as many parties appeared wary of rejecting the candidature of a Dalit.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met Kovind and expressed happiness about his nomination. He, however, said a discussion will be held on the issue within the JD(U).

Kumar also spoke to Sonia Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Yadav to discuss the BJP’s nomination. BSP chief Mayawati said that her party’s stand will be positive provided the opposition doesn’t filed a Dalit candidate.

Opposition parties held protracted negotiations for a consensus on the presidential polls, seen as an opportunity for them to come together for an anti-BJP coalition before the 2019 general elections.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said it will back Kovind, a a two-time parliamentarian who earlier headed groups that work to improve the condition of Dalits, who lie at the bottom of India’s deeply entrenched social hierarchy.

He studied law at Kanpur University and was the central government’s standing council in the Supreme Court between 1980 and 1993. He also served as the BJP’s national spokesman.

NDA ally, Shiv Sena, said it will take a decision at a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Tuesday.