Ram Nath Kovind never said he follows BJP's ideology: Congress

Congress senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said the party will only support that candidate who doesn't follow the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ideology, however, added that Kovind did not owe his allegiance to saffron party's ideology.

Azad, who was attending an iftaar party held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav here, said "It is obvious that whoever follows the ideology of the BJP won't get support from us. But Kovind never said that he follows BJP's ideology, hence it is not about supporting any person, it s about supporting a person's ideology," Azad said.

The senior leader further said that a meeting has been convened on June 22 where all the Opposition party leaders will be present and 'try to arrive' at a consensus for the presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has joined the list of Centre's allies extending support to ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential candidate Kovind.

Kovind's resignation as the Bihar Governor was accepted by President Pranab Mukherjee. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was given additional charge of Bihar.

Earlier on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah announced the name of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

Kovind before leaving for New Delhi on Monday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's 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 Palanisamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence.