Today's meeting between Nitish Kumar and the RJD chief Lalu Yadav was the first after the later termed the former's decision to support NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind as a "historic blunder". Announcing the candidature of Kumar, whose father, ex-deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram, was often hailed as one of the tallest Dalit leaders in the country, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, "17 Opposition leaders have chose to jointly field Meira Kumar".
Earlier in the day, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind filed his nomination.
"We have made a decision to field the name of Meira Kumar for the Ppresidential election". "We do hope that other parties also join us", she said when asked about the JD (U) stand.
Sources said senior JD (U) leaders, including the party's state chief Vashistha Narayan Singh and some cabinet ministers received calls for an "urgent meeting" in the light of the latest development on the presidental election. "It will be positive, provided Opposition parties do not field any Dalit for the post who is more capable and popular than him", she had told newspersons here.
In a sarcastic remark, JD (S) leader Danish Ali told the meeting that it was to the opposition's credit that BJP had only managed to win over one party, reminding that when NDA-I proposed APJ Abdul Kalam's name, even the Congress had bolted, leaving only the Left and HD Deve Gowda to field freedom fighter Lakshmi Sehgal.
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Meanwhile Congress MP Shashi Tharoor expresssed his support for Kumar on Twitter saying: "Meira Kumar: ex-IFS officer, UnionMinister for 9 yrs, Parliamentary experience of 25 yrs, LokSabha Speaker 5 yrs".
RJD chief Lalu Prasad said his was an "ideological battle" against Kovind. Meira Kumar is a leader from Bihar.
"A very important decision was taken yesterday". Meira turned out to be the common name in the list of all speakers. Apart from her, other names which had been doing the rounds were those of BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar and former minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
"Intentions of the opposition are not honest towards Dalits, otherwise they would had fielded Kumar last time", Adityanath said.
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