On Monday after a long discussion, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has proposed Ram Nath Kovind’s name for India’s next president. Ram Nath Kovind is the present Governor of Bihar and the NDA candidate for the position of the President of India. Kovind is a Dalit leader and a politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party-BJP. This is a very critical move by the BJP party as part of the party’s outreach towards the country’s backward castes. According to BJP Governor R N Kovind, 71, is a Dalit and therefore will expand the BJP’s outreach to the community.
The announcement was made after Prime Minister Modi met with party president Mr. Amit Shah and other senior BJP leaders. Narendra Modi said the Governor will make “an exceptional President”, has personally talked to Congress leaders Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi to seek their support for Bharatiya Janata Party’s nominee. Other opposition leaders like WB CM Mamata Banerjee said that they will decide whether to back the BJP’s choice after they meet last week.
The decision is likely to put all the opposition leaders such as Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, RJD’s Lalu Prasad, BSP’s Mayawati and SP leaders in a tight spot because it could be difficult for them to oppose a Dalit leader due to political complexity.
The National Congress expressed its disappointment in not being consulted while several regional parties, including the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), backed the BJP’s choice. Mr. Ram Nath Kovind took over as the governor of Bihar 2 years ago. He studied law from Kanpur University in UP and was central government’s standing counsel in the Supreme Court (SC) between 1980 and 1993. He also served the national spokesman of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Party Chief Amit Shah said that Governor RN Kovind, who arrived in Delhi from Bihar this evening, “comes from a Backward family and he has struggled a lot in his term. We all hope Mr. Kovind will be the concordant candidate for the election.” PM Narendra Modi has personally spoken to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and his predecessor, and also to the CMs of Odisha, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. Amit Shah said that all allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have also been informed of its decision. On the other hand, Shiv Sena said that the BJP party had not followed protocol, claiming that it discovered Governor R N Kovind’s nomination through the media.
With the support of regional parties like Telangana’s TRS and Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK, the BJP should be easily able to get Governor Ram Nath Kovind elected if the opposition decides to put up its own candidate in the election on July 17. During the term of Governor Kovind in Bihar, he has run into no controversy with CM Nitish Kumar, who visited him today to congratulate him.
