Hours after being announced as NDA’s presidential nominee, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah had announced the name of Kovind as NDA’s consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.
Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to seek Congress’ support for Kovind.
Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswamy over NDA’s presidential candidate pick.
The Prime Minister said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.
However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP’s ally Shev Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank.
“The Centre apprised the senior leaders, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh about the announcement over phone after taking the decision. So there is no question of mutual consent. We didn’t expect this from them,” said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
He further said that the grand old party would not comment on NDA’s Presidential nominee as of now and would meet on June 22 to formally discuss the matter.
Joining the critics of NDA’s Presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming President polls.
Met Shri Ram Nath Kovind. pic.twitter.com/fM9fg5mAnA
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 19, 2017
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