New Delhi: In a show of strength, 15 chief ministers, including two from non-NDA parties, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Union ministers and NDA leaders accompanied the ruling alliance’s presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, 71, as he filed his nomination papers on Friday for the July 17 election. The Opposition bloc has named former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against Mr Kovind. With the numbers favouring Mr Kovind, he will be the first BJP leader to occupy the nation’s highest constitutional post.
President Pranab Mukherjee’s term ends on July 24. Mr Kovind will also be the second dalit to occupy the office after K.R. Narayanan, who was at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 1997 to 2002.
After filing his nomination, Mr Kovind reached out to the Opposition parties and said that the post of President was above party politics and that he would strive to maintain its dignity. To seek support, Mr Kovind will be visiting almost every state, accompanied by a senior BJP leader. His first visit will be to his home state, Uttar Pradesh, on June 25, where Union minister Nitin Gadkari will be accompanying him.
“Ever since I became governor, I don’t belong to any political party. The post of President is above party politics. I am thankful to everybody for their support... I will do my best to maintain the dignity of the high office of President,” Mr Kovind said.
Interestingly, BJP ally and key NDA constituent Shiv Sena, whose leaders had seconded Mr Kovind’s name in the nomination papers, was not represented on the occasion at Parliament House, which the ruling party said was due to “some miscommunication”. The chief ministers of two non-NDA non-UPA outfits — Tamil Nadu’s E.K. Palaniswami and his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao — were also present.
Representatives of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSRCP, who are supporting Mr Kovind, were also not present.
Veteran BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi also accompanied the NDA nominee. PDP president and J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is down with viral fever, could not attend the nomination ceremony.
