Speed Post News Network
Patna : NDA’s presidential candidate and former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, 71, will start a nationwide tour on June 25 stopping first in Uttar Pradesh, where he will talk to members of the electoral college. Kovind will be accompanied by Union minister Nitin Gadkari in the UP leg of the tour.
Kovind filed his nomination papers for the presidential election on June 23, 2017, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Ami Shah and top BJP leaders L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari and other dignitaries at Parliament House, New Delhi. After filing his nomination papers, Kovind reached out to the opposition saying the president’s office was above party politics.
Meanwhile, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, on his return from Delhi on June 23, again appealed Bihar CM and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar to reconsider his party’s support to NDA presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind. But the JD (U) stuck to its decision to support Kovind. Lalu had on June 22 described Nitish’s decision to support Kovind a `historical blunder’. Lalu described UPA presidential candidate Meira Kumar as “Bihar ki Beti” (daughter of Bihar).
With more than 60 % of the members of the president’s electoral college backing Kovind, his election as the next president is almost certain. The poll is scheduled for July 17, 2017.
.