Congress calls on Nitish to reconsider support to Kovind

The Congress Party on Monday advised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to reconsider his decision for supporting National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind.

"He was one of the architects of the opposition unity. Suddenly, for some strange reason he decided to support Kovind. He needs to reconsider. He needs to support Meira Kumar as she is a better candidate," Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI.

Earlier, the Janata Dal (United) confirmed they will support the presidential candidate Kovind.

"All the leaders have decided that we will support Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president. He is Bihar's first Governor who has been nominated for this post. We are very happy with this, it is the matter of Bihar's development," Senior JD (U) leader Ratnesh Sada said after meeting all the party leaders.

Earlier on June 19, Chief Minister Nitish said that a thorough discussion will be held on the matter within the Janata Dal (United) party.

Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) president Amit Shah announced Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind would be the government's candidate for the country's top post.

After this announcement, Nitish had met Kovind at Raj Bhawan in Patna and extended his wishes.

The opposition is against Kovind's name being finalised for the post of president on grounds that they were not consulted prior to the announcement.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24.