Opposition Picks Meira Kumar As Presidential Candidate
New Delhi: The opposition parties on Thursday picked former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to take on NDA's Ram Nath Kovind in the Presidential election.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi announced Meira Kumar's name at a meeting attended by 17 political parties including the Left, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, BSP, DMK and National Conference. Talking to reporters, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said, "There could not have been a better candidate than Meira Kumar for the post of President." Meira Kumar, a Dalit from Bihar, is daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram. A lawyer and a former diplomat, she was the first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
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.
