Laying to rest all speculation, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday announced the name of incumbent Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind as its candidate in the Presidential Election.
Kovind is likely to file his papers on 23 June, BJP president Amit Shah said after a nearly two-hour meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board. He said political parties had been informed of the NDA's choice. "I hope all will agree with the name," he said at a press conference.
Kovind, a Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh, has a long career in politics behind him. He has headed the BJP's Dalit Morcha and is among one of the few Dalit faces the party could boast of in it's folds in north India.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelThe party has also nominated him as its Rajya Sabha MP from the Hindi heartland twice in the past, where he enjoyed consecutive terms from 1994 for the next 12 year till March, 2006.
Announcing his name as the party's choice for the presidential elections, Shah said, “Ram Nath comes from a Dalit family and has struggled a lot. We hope he will be the unanimous candidate for the election.” (KNS)