Kovind launches his prez campaign from Uttar Pradesh
LUCKNOW: Ram Nath Kovind, the 71-year old Dalit leader from Kanpur and the NDA’s pick for Presidential polls, arrived in Lucknow to formally seek support of lawmakers in the state.
Congress nominee for the post is former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, also a Dalit who is backed by 17 opposition parties.
With Union home minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh down with a leg fracture, Kovind was accompanied on his Lucknow visit by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP’s national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, who also attended the meeting that Kovind had with party lawmakers at chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s 5 Kalidas Marg residence on Sunday.
“Main Uttar Pradesh ka hoon aur yeh mera saubhagya hain ki main apne abhiyaan ki shuruat apno ke beech se kar raha hoon (I am from UP and it’s my privilege that I am launching my campaign from amongst our people),” Kovind reportedly said at the meeting. Media was not allowed.
The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24. Kovind’s meeting with the lawmakers from UP is important as the electoral college of the President comprises both MPs and MLAs, and each vote weighs in accordance with proportional representation. While all MP votes bear equal value – 708 -, the weightage of MLA votes differs from state to state on the basis of population.
MLAs from UP carry the highest value (Sikkim lowest), which was reason enough for Kovind to launch his campaign from his home state.
“Kovindji boley ki hum logon ko na kewal apna vote dena hai balki vipaksh ka vote bhi dilwane ka prayaas karna hai (Kovindji told us that we should also try to convince opposition lawmakers in UP to vote for him),” an MP who attended the meeting told HT. Though the ruling NDA has a comfortable edge over the Congress-backed opposition, many feel that the upcoming presidential polls in July may turn out to be the closest electoral contest of the kind since 1969, when VV Giri faced off with Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy. On his part, Kovind, who has been assured of support by some opposition parties including the JD (U), said that the President’s post should be above party politics.
Earlier in the day, Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda extended his support to opposition’s presidential candidate Meira Kumar.