Meira KuMar vS Shinde

The Opposition had been toying with the idea of Meira Kumar as its Presidential candidate, but made the mistake of waiting for the BJP to show its hand. Now that the PM and Amit Shah have played the Dalit card, the choice of Meira Kumar seems like a Me-Too candidate, instead of being seen on its own merit. In fact, initially, the Congress was also considering Sushilkumar Shinde as he is a Dalit from Maharashtra and in projecting him, they could have tried to wean the Shiv Sena away from the BJP. The Sena had made it clear it would go with the NDA before the UPA announced its name. So, finally, the choice was, should the UPA announce a Dalit from Maharashtra and put Uddhav Thackeray in the awkward spot of voting against someone from his state? Or should they announce a Dalit from Bihar and put Nitish Kumar in the same awkward spot of voting against someone from his own state? The final decision it seems is to embarrass Nitish and also expose his drift back to the BJP.