The recent news of Ram Nath Kovind’s name for a presidential candidate from BJP has played a negative image in opposition parties. Even they are not able to understand why BJP has chosen the name of this Bihar Governor. Recently BJP chief Amit Shah has explained that this candidate meets all the expectations.
A much-awaited announcement came after a BJP Parliamentary board meeting on Monday. BJP chief Amit Shah announced the name of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit leader as National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) presidential candidate at a press conference in New Delhi. The opposition is yet to announce its candidate for the presidential poll.
The three-member committee set up by BJP for talking to opposition parties has reached out to almost all the parties and conveyed their suggestions to PM (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. He said that the Dalit leader Ram Nath kovind’s candidature meets the expectations of opposition parties as their suggestions were duly factored in. He also added that Kovind hailed from weaker sections of the society he is fully conversant with issues of social justice and the role of the State within the framework of the Constitution and being a farmer he is equally familiar with farm sector and farmers issues. Kovind is likely to file his papers on June 23.
Ram Nath Kovind was born in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on October 1, 1945. He has Bachelor’s degree in commerce, followed by his LLB degree from Kanpur University. While his parents were farmers, Kovind studied to become a lawyer. He practiced in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court for 16 years. His first step into politics in 1994, when he was elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh and served for two consecutive terms for 12 years until March 2006. He was also served as president of the BJP Dalit Morcha from 1998 to 2002. He was also the President of the All-India Koli Samaj and a member of the Board of Governors of IIM-Calcutta. He has also represented India in the United Nations. On August 8, 2015, he was appointed the governor of Bihar.
BJP has played their cards brilliantly by nominating a Dalit face which has broken the opposition’s unity. The choice has come as a big surprise to everyone, who thought BJP would name Draupadi Murmu, L K Advani, Mohan Bhagwat and many other names. Narendra Modi spoke to Congress president and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek their support for NDA’s Presidential pick. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed happiness on Ram Nath Kovind, who has picked as BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate while BSP chief Mayawati clear that her party will not oppose the popular Dalit Name.
The Presidential election scheduled for July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 25. The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notice in this regard and process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.
