Opposition parties nominate Meira Kumar as their presidential candidate
Announcing the name of Kumar, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "The name of Meira Kumar has been selected unanimously by seventeen political parties for the presidential poll."
The meeting of the opposition parties had representatives from CPI(M), Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, RJD along with the Congress vice president Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh.
The NDA has proposed the name of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, who later resigned after the announcement.
The presence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the meeting seemed to be significant, as his ally party of Bihar government, Nitish Kumar's JD(U) extended their support to the NDA nominated candidate.
Nitish skipped the Opposition meet on Thursday.
Both candidates of the NDA and the Opposition are Dalits, which had raised the topic of playing caste card in the political field.
While Kovind comes from Uttar Pradesh, Kumar is of Bihar origin.
Pranab Mukherjee's term as the president will expire in the month of July.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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