Ram Nath Kovind Presidential Candidate

New Delhi, July 19The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today not just surprised but also seemed to have put several of the Opposition parties in a fix when it announced the name of Ramnath Kovind, currently Bihar Governor, as its presidential candidate.That 71-year-old Kovind is a Dalit from Uttar Pradesh and the choice revealed the fierce need felt by the BJP leadership to consolidate its new found Dalit support base, not just across the country but particularly in UP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It could also lead to cracks in the putative 'grand alliance' of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress in UP. Biju Janata Dal chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said his party would support Kovind's candidature. Patnaik was one of several leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who received phone calls from Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the day. The choice of Kovind comes in the wake of protests by Dalits in ...

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BJP chooses Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as presidential candidate

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Kovind appealed to all members of the presidential election collegium to support his candidature.