Delhi: Former Lok Sabha speaker and senior Congress leader Meira Kumar, a Dalit, is Opposition's candidate to take on NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind for Presidential election.
The decision was taken after 17 Opposition parties met in the national capital on Thursday to pick their candidate.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Sharad Pawar (NCP), Sitaram Yechury from CPI(M), D Raja (CPI), Darek O' Brien (TMC), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Satish Chandra Mishra (BSP), Omar Abdullah (NC), Kanimozhi (DMK) and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge were among those who attended the meet.
With Kovind also being a Dalit, this makes it a Dalit vs Dalit Presidential contest.
"We have decided to field the name of Meira Kumar for the Presidential election. We do hope that other parties also join us," Sonia said.
Her party colleague, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Kumar was a unanimous choice.
"Daughter of freedom fighter Jagjivan Ram, Meira Kumar is an experienced leader and has served in various capacities," he said.
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 BR Ambedkar, as per PTI.
Importantly, cracks had appeared in the Opposition ahead of today's crucial meeting, with the JD(U) deciding to stay out of the talks after extending its support to Kovind yesterday.
About Kumar:
Reacting to her candidature, Kumar said, "Express gratitude to 17 Opposition parties who selected me as Presidential election candidate. Delighted by Opposition's unity," as per ANI.
She added, "This unity represents coming together of forces which have strong ideological base. Going to contest election as their representative."
"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," Kumar also told reporters.
A diplomat-turned-politician Kumar had a steady rise in echelons of power since she made her electoral debut in the mid-eighties.
Daughter of former deputy PM late Jagjivan Ram, Kumar, 72, was also the first woman to occupy the high office of the Lok Sabha Speaker between 2009 and 2014 during the UPA-II rule.
The career of Kumar, began when she quit Indian Foreign Service (IFS) job and decided to fight the Lok Sabha polls in 1985, a year before her father's death.
She was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh in 1985, defeating top Dalit leaders Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan.
About Kovind:
On the other hand, in a surprise move, the BJP on June 19 had announced that the low- profile, Kanpur-born Kovind (Bihar Governor) was the National Democratic Alliance's Presidential candidate.
A commerce graduate, who also studied law at Kanpur University, practised in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. He was also the Central government's standing counsel in the apex court from 1980-93.
Kovind, who headed Dalit Morcha from 1998 to 2002, also led the All-India Koli Samaj.
Elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1994 from Uttar Pradesh, he served two consecutive terms till March 2006.
Kovind joined a stir by SC/ST employees in 1997 when Dalits and others protested against orders issued by the Central government, which were rescinded by Atal Bihari Vajpayee when the NDA came to power.
If elected, the 71-year-old will become India's 14th president and would be only the second Dalit - and the first from the Hindi heartland - to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan after KR Narayanan.
The BJP's pick, a former two-time Rajya Sabha MP, had not figured in the names that were doing the rounds.
The rumour mills had put BJP veterans LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu as amongst the probables.
Meira Kumar made scapegoat by Congress, says BJP
Meanwhile, the BJP said today that the Congress had made Kumar a 'scapegoat' by fielding her as the Opposition's Presidential candidate.
It also questioned as to why the party did not nominate her when it was in a position to get her elected to the highest office.
"When the Congress had the opportunity to elect a Dalit president when they were in power they did not find Meira Kumar suitable. But when the defeat of the opposition candidate is certain they have fielded her as a scapegoat. This clearly shows that it has no commitment to elect leaders from marginalised sections to high offices and had decided to field her purely done as a token exercise," BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said.
The Presidential election is scheduled for July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee's term is till July 24.
The electoral college, which elects the president through the system of proportional representation, comprises elected MPs and members of state legislative assemblies - a total of 4,896 voters including 4,120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs.
The total strength of the electoral college is 10,98,903.
(With Agency inputs)
