BJP Picks Up Dalit Leader As Presidential Candidate:- The BJP on Monday announced Ram Nath Kovind as the party's official nominee for the post of the President of India. Kovind, a Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh, is currently serving as the Governor of Bihar.
The announcement was made following a high-level party meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Announcing Kovind's candidature, BJP president Amit Shah said that the BJP has always stood for the backward and underprivileged groups in the country. He added that the party is yet to take a decision on the Vice President nominee. Amit Shah has made it clear that PM Modi had a word with Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh before announcing the name.
Kovind was born on October 1, 1945, at a village called Paraunkh,Tehsil Derapur, District Kanpur in UP. He is a two-time Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh. Elected first in April 1994 from Uttar Pradesh, he served for two consecutive terms for 12 years till March, 2006. Over the years, he has been very vocal on the issues relating to Dalits and Backward castes and is a very prominent leader of the Dalit community from 1977 to 79. He was Central government advocate in Delhi High Court and in Supreme Court he served as Central Government Outstanding Counsel member from 1980 to 1993.
He became BJP Dalit Morcha President in between 1998 and 2002. He also served as President for All India Koli Samaj. Ram Nath Kovind is the presidential candidate of NDA. Kovind is a politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected to Rajya Sabha from state of Uttar Pradesh during the two terms of 1994-2000 and 2000-2006. He was nominated as Governor of Bihar about one and half years ago.
The names of three women- Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Governor of Jarkhand Draupadi Murmu appeared in media speculations. The names of Ratan Tata and Narayana Murthy of Infosys were also referred to in various media reports. Ram Nath Kovid’s name was not forecast by anyone. That way it is a master stroke by Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to leaders of all the alliance parties. He also spoke to Nitish Kumar, Naveen Patnaik, Chandrababu Naidu, KCR and other chief ministers.
As the ruling BJP has now announced its nominee, the opposition parties have the choice of either supporting him or pit a candidate against him.
BJP Parliamentary Board To Discuss Presidential Election Nominees Today?
SUPRAJA
