‘Bihar ki beti’ to be Oppn’s candidate for Prez vs Kovind

New Delhi : A larger Opposition minus the Janata Dal (United) today unanimously nominated former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, 72, as its joint candidate for the July 17 presidential election. Announcing her name, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who chaired the meeting of 17 non-NDA parties in the Parliament House Complex, appealed to all parties to support her. Barring the Nitish Kumar led-JD (U), which abandoned Opposition ranks yesterday to support the ruling NDA’s nominee Ram Nath Kovind, all others who attended the first meeting on the issue came today. RLD’s Ajit Singh was an addition to the list. The meeting lasted 40 minutes and quickly decided in favour of Meira Kumar, who emerged way ahead of other Dalit contenders — former minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and former Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar — proposed in the gathering. The name of BR Ambedkar’s nephew, Prakash Ambedkar, was mentioned later by the CPM but wasn’t part of those proposed among the main probables.Insiders said Gandhi handed the floor to NCP chief Sharad Pawar after her opening statement. Describing Pawar as the “seniormost leader present”, she requested him to propose the three nominees out of which Kumar was unanimously chosen. “Ms Meira Kumar has fine personal and family credentials. She is the daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram, a great freedom fighter and former Deputy PM. She was an IFS officer who quit to join politics. Meiraji was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1985 and later to the 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th Houses. She was minister for social justice and water resources in the UPA government and the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha,” Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad said after the decision. The meeting didn’t discuss Nitish Kumar’s desertion but Gandhi did say later, “I am not upset with anyone but I appeal to everyone to support Meira Kumar.” The Opposition’s calculations favoured Kumar for obvious reasons. Her’s was the tallest stature. Most handy was her Bihar origin which, many thought, would exert moral and psychological pressure on Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and might break JD (U) ranks.