MEIRA PLAYS UP HER UP CONNECT, MEETS MAYAWATI, AKHILESH
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) presidential candidate and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar sought to play up her Uttar Pradesh connection to garner support in an election that has become a test case for Opposition unity on July 17 when voting will be held. Kumar, who arrived in Lucknow on Friday to seek support from UP legislators, said Kanpur, the hometown of NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, was her ‘nanihaal’ (maternal home) as her mother hailed from there. Accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and senior party leader Pramod Tiwari, she drove to the BSP state headquarters to meet Mayawati and later also met Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav.
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) presidential candidate and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar sought to play up her Uttar Pradesh connection to garner support in an election that has become a test case for Opposition unity on July 17 when voting will be held.
Kumar, who arrived in Lucknow on Friday to seek support from UP legislators, said Kanpur, the hometown of NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind, was her ‘nanihaal’ (maternal home) as her mother hailed from there.
Emphasising that this presidential election was crucial as it was a contest between two ideologies, Kumar, daughter of former deputy PM Jagjivan Ram from Bihar, said, “I belong both to Bihar and UP. Hence, I have the right to seek votes in the state.”
The reference was apparently aimed at NDA nominee Kovind, who quit as Bihar governor when his candidature was announced for the top job.
She said this was a make or break election for the nation as the country’s secular fabric and communal harmony were under threat like never before.
“The choice lawmakers make will decide its (country’s) fate,” she said.
Accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and senior party leader Pramod Tiwari, she drove to the BSP state headquarters to meet Mayawati and later also met Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has 47 legislators, the BSP 19 and the Congress seven in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly. The fact that Kumar had wrested Bijnor Lok Sabha seat from Mayawati in a by-election in 1985 did not come in the way as BSP supremo assured her support.
Mayawati has already announced that in case the Congress put up a better and more popular Dalit leader as a candidate for the Presidential election, she would support him or her.
Uncertainty, however, prevails in the SP. While Akhilesh Yadav’s party has made its support for Kumar clear, doubts remain as party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav have favoured Kovind. Meira Kumar has urged UP lawmakers for a conscience vote.
Voting will be held in the Tilak Hall of the assembly between 10am and 5pm on July 17, an official said.