The Opposition parties on Friday said that it would contest the July 17 presidential election based on ideology and appealed to all secular forces to support its nominee Meira Kumar.
With the JD(U) and the BJD supporting NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind despite being part of the Opposition grouping, the left parties on Friday urged BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar to reconsider their decision and support Opposition candidate Meira Kumar in the presidential election.
Meira Kumar has been picked by 17 non-NDA political parties as their candidate against NDA nominee Kovind. While RJD chief lalu Prasad said he would continue to urge his Mahagathbandhan alliance partner JD(U) to rally behind Meira Kumar, CPI leader D Raja said that the left would reach out to the other Opposition parties including the BJD to join hands and support Kumar’s candidature.
Describing the combined Opposition nominee Meira Kumar as “Bihar ki Beti” (daughter of Bihar), lalu appealed to Nitish Kumar to “mend the historic blunder” of supporting NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
The RJD president, however, made it clear that the divergent paths taken by his party and the JD(U) would have no impact on the Grand Alliance Government in Bihar headed by Kumar. Bihar JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh reiterated party’s stand to support Kovind and made it clear that there was no going back on it.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who termed Meira Kumar as the best candidate to represent the secular forces, said, “This is a fight of ideologies and there is no midway. People with secular ideology should stand with Meira Kumar.”
CPI national secretary D Raja also termed the presidential poll as a battle of ideologies and that the Opposition would fight this contest seriously despite less numbers. “It is true that the numbers are not in favour of the Opposition at this point of time. But it is a contest and must be fought seriously. Some people say it is a token fight, but what is tokenism in a democracyIJ This contest is to safeguard the Constitution, democracy. It is a battle of ideologies,” he said.
Terming the presidential poll contest as an “ideological battle”, lalu Yadav said Kovind is a hardcore RSS man and even if the Congress had asked us to support him he would have gone against it.
Meira Kumar in a statement thanked the Opposition parties for nominating her as their joint candidate and said this was a fight between different ideologies. She appealed to the electorate comprising parliamentarians and members of State legislatures to decide on their support in the best interest of the country based on cherished values of social justice and inclusiveness and on principles and ideologies.
“This election is a fight of ideology. I would appeal to the collegium to take their decision on the best interest of the country, based on the cherished values and principles and ideologies. These are social justice, inclusiveness and values of composite Indian heritage which we hold so sacred,” she stated.
“We appeal to the Chief Ministers of Odisha and Bihar to reconsider their decision and support a secular candidate like Meira Kumar. Above all, both BJD and JD(U) are not part of the BJP-led NDA,” CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said. Reddy said they hope both Patnaik and Kumar will rethink before casting their vote in favour of Ram Nath Kovind, whom they described as a “Sangh Parivar member”.