INLD Announces Support For Kovind After His Meet With SAD-BJP MLAs
Kovind reached Srinagar along with Venkaiah Naidu and others to canvass for the support of J&K’s MLAs and MPs.
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- NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind met SAD-BJP MLAs and MPs in Chandigarh on 29 June
- He met J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday afternoon
- Kovind kickstarted his nationwide tour on Sunday
- He met with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other lawmakers in Lucknow to seek support
- Kovind was accompanied by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, BJP national general secretary Bhupender Yadav
INLD Announces Support For Kovind After His With Meet SAD-BJP MLAs
Haryana's main opposition party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on Thursday announced its support for NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.
"We will support Kovind," INLD general secretary and MLA Abhay Chautala announced after a party meeting in Chandigarh.
Kovind arrived in Chandigarh on Thursday to meet MLAs and MPs of Haryana and Punjab BJP and those of its ally SAD as part of his campaign for the 17 17 election.
Kovind, who was accompanied by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and senior BJP leader Anil Jain, was given a rousing welcome at the airport by NDA leaders from the twin states.
71-year-old Kovind held separate meetings with Punjab SAD-BJP MLAs and MPs and later with the BJP parliamentarians of Haryana at Panchkula, Haryana, said Kamal Sharma- former Punjab BJP president.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and other senior leaders of the Akali Dal were also be present at the meeting along with BJP legislators and parliamentarians from the state.
It's Kovind Versus Kumar; 90 Others Shown the Door
NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind and opposition candidate Meira Kumar are the only two people in the race for the president's post, with the nomination of over 90 hopefuls being rejected on Thursday on the day of scrutiny.
As was expected, former Bihar Kovind will face former Lok Sabha Speaker Kumar in the 17 July election. And, again as expected, the motley crowd that eyed the top constitutional post, from a tattooed man to a compulsive election contestant, were all shown the door.
Among the would-be contenders were K Padmarajan, who called himself the "Election King" because he had taken part, unsuccessfully, though, in over 150 polls.
There was also a self proclaimed record holder, who described himself as "Ripley's Guinness Rishi", claiming that he had a record number of tattoos on his body.
Kovind to meet SAD-BJP MLAs, MPs in Chandigarh
Ram Nath Kovind will meet MLAs and MPs of the Haryana and Punjab BJP and those of its ally SAD as part of his campaign for the 17 July election.
Kovind will arrive in Chandigarh on Thursday morning, Punjab BJP Secretary, Vineet Joshi said on Wednesday.
He said Kovind will hold a two-hour meeting with the legislators and parliamentarians at Panchkula, Haryana.
According to state unit chief of INLD, Ashok Arora, the party will take a decision on Thursday on whom to extend support to in the presidential election.
The party, at a meeting held recently, had left it to party president and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala on whether to extend support to Kovind or opposition candidate Meira Kumar.
Among the Lok Sabha MPs in Haryana, the ruling BJP has seven members, the INLD two and Congress has one while the BJP has only one member among the five Rajya Sabha MPs. Media baron Subhash Chandra was last year elected with the BJP's support.
The Congress has two Rajya Sabha members and the INLD has one in Haryana.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and BJP's general secretary Anil Jain will be among the leaders who will be with Kovind.
Kovind Meets Mehbooba Mufti
On Wednesday afternoon, Kovind met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, MPs, MLAs and MLCs of the J&K Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reported ANI. Kovind reached Srinagar along with Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu, among others to canvass for the support of the state’s MLAs and MPs, reported Republic TV.
Minister of State for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region Dr Jitendra Singh tweeted:
Venkaiah Naidu Files Fourth Set of Nomination Papers for Kovind
Union Minister Venkaiah naidu filed the fourth set of nomination papers on behalf of NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday, minutes before UPA’s nominee Meira Kumar arrived at the Parliament House to file her papers for the presidential elections.
Venkaiah Naidu to Accompany Kovind to Srinagar
Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu will accompany Ram Nath Kovind to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, as part of the NDA presidential candidate’s nationwide tour to seek support of lawmakers for the 17 July election.
Naidu will also go to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh with Kovind on 4 July.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, besides MLAs from all state assemblies, comprise the electoral college, totaling 10,98,882 votes.
The vote value of a member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha is 708, while that of an MLA would depend on the population of the state he or she represents.
Meanwhile, Naidu hit out at the Congress for saying that it would contest the presidential election based on ideology.
“Issue in presidential election is commitment to the Constitution. Some friends are confusing by talking about ideology. Extending tenure of Parliament and imposing Emergency is the ideology,” he said.
Taking at a dig at opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar, Naidu said, “Congress party remembers conscience conveniently and even now it has conveniently asked the collegium to go for conscience vote”.
Making an emotional appeal to MPs and MLAs, Kumar had written to them to cast their votes with their “inner conscience”.
Kovind to Head to Srinagar on 28 June
NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will be travelling to Srinagar on 28 June with Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
Kovind will meet BJP and PDP ministers as well as MLAs.
Two-Hour Closed Door Meeting
Ram Nath Kovind met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at the latter’s official residence.
The closed-door meeting, chaired by the chief minister, lasted for two hours, official sources here said.
All 57 party legislators and two out of the five party MPs from the state and one Independent MLA, Pritam Singh Panwar, were present at the meeting, they said.
Earlier in the day, Kovind was received at the Jolly Grant airport by the chief minister who took him to his official residence. The NDA's presidential pick was gifted a shawl, an urn filled with water from the Ganga river and a book on the history of Uttarakhand.
Kovind Meets Yogi Adityanath, Ministers, MLAs
Kovind sought the “blessings” of the lawmakers of the BJP and its allies in UP as he embarked on a nationwide tour from his home state to garner the backing of various political parties.
The meeting was held at the official residence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who earlier received Kovind at the airport here.
Accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP national general secretary Bhupender Yadav, Kovind was taken to the CM’s official residence on Kalidas Marg straight from the airport.
There, he interacted with a host of senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers Uma Bharti and Gadkari, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma. He also met with state Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit.
BJP MPs and former chief ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank could not attend the meeting due to their personal engagements.
Parties Must Rise Above Political Constraints, Says UP CM
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Kovind’s nomination is a victory in the fight for social justice in India. He also said:
Why Is UP Strategically Important?
Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will visit Uttar Pradesh on Sunday to seek support from members of both the Houses of the state. Preparations are already underway in the state for Presidential voting on 17 July.
Kovind's visit to Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest value of each vote in the presidential election, is part of his nationwide tour. He is expected to talk to members of the electoral college who vote for the new president. The electoral college includes elected members of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, states, Union Territories and the NCR region of Delhi.
The closest the state came to having its representative in the President's House was in 1969, when Mohammad Hidayatullah became the first acting president of the country and remained in that position from 20 July to 24 August of that year.
It Will Be an ‘Honour’ to Have Kovind For President: Adityanath
Since the NDA’s presidential pick, Ram Nath Kovind, hails from Kanpur’s Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said it would be an honour that a son of the soil would be occupying the presidential office.
Also Read: The Quint Visits NDA Prez Nominee Ram Nath Kovind’s Ancestral Home
Addressing the MPs and MLAs, Adityanath said, “This is the first time that we will have the honour of having a person from Uttar Pradesh as our President. This honour has been bestowed upon us by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.”
He said Kovind, who led a simple life, had continuously been working for the uplift of the poor, Dalits and marginalised sections of the society.
Kovind had been active in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP, and was even appointed the general secretary when Laxmikant Bajpai was the party's state chief. But he chose to switch to the party's central unit.
After the Narendra Modi government came to power, he was appointed as the Bihar Governor, from where he resigned after being named the NDA's Presidential nominee.
With over 62 per cent of the votes firmly behind him, Kovind's election as the next president is almost certain.
Besides the BJP and its NDA allies, the TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, BJD and the JD(U) have also announced their support to him.
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Published: 24 Jun 2017,04:53 PM IST