Opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday described the presidential election as a battle of ideologies and principles and said the Opposition was determined to fight it. Sonia led the 17 Opposition parties as the former lok Sabha Speaker filed her nomination on the last day.
"For us, it is a battle of ideologies, principles and truth and we will fight it," Sonia, one of Kumar's proposers alongwith BSP's Mayawati among others, said.
Kumar will launch her campaign from Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat on June 30. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted Kumar represents the values that bind the country and its people.
NCP’s Sharad Pawar, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were also present. The Congress was represented by all its Chief Ministers - Amarinder Singh, Siddharamaiah, Virbhadra Singh, V Narayanasamy, Mukul Sangma - and its top leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ambika Soni. Former Chief Ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh attended the event as well.
Also present were CPI's D Raja, DMK's Kanimozhi, SP's Naresh Agrawal, BSP's Satish Chandra Misra, NCP's Tariq Anwar, JMM's Sanjeev Kumar and TMC's Derek O'Brien and leaders of other opposition parties.
Kumar said she had already appealed to all members of the electoral college that this was a very important time when the country stood at a crossroads. "There is one path which takes us towards narrow- mindedness and no concern for the poor and downtrodden, while the other path leads to upliftment of Dalits, poor, oppressed, downtrodden, women and labour and people of all religions," Kumar said.
From Sabarmati, Kumar would go to Mumbai and Bangalore and be in Bihar on July 6. She ends her campaign on July 15.