Meira Kumar a better candidate than Ramnath Kovind: Ramgopal Yadav

Post the end-moment announcement of the presidential nominee by the Opposition, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav-faction member Ramgopal Yadav on Friday said Meira Kumar is a better candidate than NDA Government's presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind.

Yadav also said that Meira's stature is high, keeping in mind her political career and she being the daughter of well-known politician Babu Jagjivan Ram.

"Her (Meira Kumar) stature is high and has been the speaker, minister and Lok Sabha member. Being the daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram, the entire country knows her well. The opposition candidate is better than the candidate announced by the government," Yadav told ANI.

"The Opposition has to play the role of being an opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced its candidate and it has the majority also but even the opposition has brought forward a good candidate," he added.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar was on Thursday announced as the Opposition' Presidential nominee.

The Opposition - Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI), and other parties - met yesterday to discuss the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) decision on Presidential nominee Ramnath Kovind, following which they announced their candidate.

The BJP had earlier said that the Opposition was a divided house over the Presidential elections as many of its partners have extended support to ruling NDA candidate.

BJP chief Amit Shah had announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

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

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.