Kovind meets BJP veteran L.K. Advani

Former Bihar governor and likely NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind met veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani at his residence here on Wednesday.

Kovind has already met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president Amit Shah.

The ruling NDA on Monday nominated Kovind, a Dalit, as its candidate for the Presidential elections to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 25.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to seek Congress' support for Kovind.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

The Prime Minister said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.

The decision, however, did not go down well with some opposition parties, including Congress, Left, Bahujan Samajwadi Party ( BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), who called for a meeting on June 22 to discuss the matter.

"We don't want to talk about his (Kovind's) personality but will talk on merit. This is true that he is a hardcore BJP and we were expecting someone neutral. On June 22, we are having a meeting under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and then we will discuss whether to support or oppose this," Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told ANI.