Opposition candidate Meira Kumar on Wednesday filed her nomination for the presidential poll in presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and many other top Opposition leaders.
Kumar, who filed her papers with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on one side and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the other, will launch her campaign from Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat on June 30.
Accompanying the former Lok Sabha as she filed her nomination in Parliament House were a host of opposition leaders, including NCP’s Sharad Pawar and CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, senior party leaders, chief ministers such as Amarinder Singh, Virbhadra Singh and Siddaramaiah were present as Kumar submitted her nomination papers.
She faces the NDA presidential candidate, Ram Nath Kovind who was earlier the Governor of Bihar. Kovind’s name was announced by BJP President Amit Shah last week and is backed by all the parties in the NDA along with non-NDA constituents like BJD, TDP and TRS and AIADMK. Both Kumar and Kovind, hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh respectively, belong to the Dalit community.
“For us, it is a battle of ideologies, principles and truth and we will fight it,” she said after the opposition’s presidential candidate Meira Kumar filed her nomination in Parliament.
“Prior to this, when elections for this post took place many a time there were candidates from the so-called upper castes. But there was no discussion on their castes. Their qualities, abilities and qualifications were discussed. I don’t remember their being any debate about their castes,” she said.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is abroad on a vacation, said Ms. Kumar represents the values that bind the country and its people.
“Against the ideology of divisiveness she represents the values that bind us as a nation and people. Proud to have Meira Kumar ji as our candidate,” he tweeted.
