The opposition on Thursday announced it will field former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against the 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.
Kumar entered electoral politics in 1985 when she joined Congress. Kumar has also been the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009. In 2009, she also had a stint as a member of the Cabinet as Union Minister for Water Resources, following which she went on to become the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
Reacting on the Opposition decision, the BJP said it is only a symbolic fight. “They (Congress) are only putting up a symbolic fight. If they only wanted to make her, they could’ve done during the two occasions when Congress was in power,” BJP leader G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told a news channel.