Opposition to decide Presidential nominee today, Meira Kumar remains frontrunner, NCP goes into huddle

The Nitish Kumar-led JDU has decided to stay out of the talks after it extended support to NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

Updated: June 22, 2017 4:58 PM IST

By India.com News Desk

Meira Kumar
मीरा कुमार (फाइल फोटो)

New Delhi, June 22: Opposition parties will meet on Thursday to evolve a consensus on the presidential nominee after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance declared former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as its nominee for the top post. But even before the meeting, cracks have already developed in the Opposition with Janata Dal United extending support to Kovind’s candidature.

If reports are to be believed, then former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar can be the Opposition’s front runner. Earlier, former home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde‘s name was also doing the rounds but he ruled himself out of the face. Meira also met Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Wednesday.

The Nationalist Congress Party is also holding discussions ahead of the Opposition meeting. Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel and CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are at NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s residence in a bid to woo him.

The Nitish Kumar-led JDU has decided to stay out of the talks. Sources said that the JDU’s announcement led to hectic deliberations through the day on Wednesday between senior leaders of the Congress and other non-NDA parties on how to keep the opposition together.

JDU’s spokesperson KC Tyagi had said the JDU would not attend the Opposition meeting, saying that it was now “irrelevant” for his party after it had supported Kovind. “This isolated incident will have no bearing on our efforts for the larger opposition unity,” he said.

The Congress, which is coordinating the Opposition meet, expressed hope that leaders of all parties which attended the May 26 luncheon hosted by Sonia would be present for the meeting. Senior Congress and other opposition leaders talked to several leaders to ensure the presence of all non-NDA parties at the meeting, which will decide on the Opposition’s presidential candidate, the sources said.

“No matter what happens, we will contest the election,” a senior Left leader said.

But with the NDA putting up a Dalit candidate, it has left the Opposition with a fewer options. The Opposition may field a Dalit against Kovind in the race for the top post. Both Shinde and Meira are Dalits with rich political experience.

Meanwhile, former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam and his loyalists have extended support to NDA’s nominee in the presidential race.

The Presidential election will be held on July 17 and result will be declared on July 20. President Pranab Mukherjee’s tenure will end on July 24.

With inputs from PTI

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