Veteran Punjabi film actor Nirmal Rishi receives Padma Shri
New Delhi, June 22
Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar was on Thursday named as the joint candidate of the Opposition parties for the July 17 Presidential poll. Kumar was a unanimous choice, said Congress president Sonia Gandhi who chaired the meeting of the Opposition parties.
Kumar is a former diplomat and daughter of the late Dalit icon Jagjivan Ram.
With Kovind also being a Dalit, this makes it a Dalit vs Dalit presidential contest.
“We have decided to field the name of Meira Kumar for the presidential election… We do hope that other parties also join us,” Sonia Gandhi said.
Her party colleague, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Kumar was a unanimous choice.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar proposed three names — Kumar, former union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Rajya Sabha MP Bhalchandra Mungekar, both Dalits from Maharashtra.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury put forward the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of B R Ambedkar.
Barring JDU, which broke ranks with the grouping to back NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, all other 17 parties attended the meeting.
After choosing Meira Kumar as Opposition parties’ nominee, RJD leader Lalu Prasad said he will meet Nitish Kumar and will continue to urge him to change his decision to support NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
Parties that turned up for the Congress-led Opposition meet are TMC, JDS, CPM, CPI, IULM, AIUDF, Kerala Congress, SP, BSP, NCP, NC, JMM, RLD, RJD and DMK.
