The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday announced its support for the Opposition’s Presidential candidate Meira Kumar.
Senior party leaders Sanjay Singh, Dilip Pandey and Ashutosh made the announcement after the AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting.
“The PAC, headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has decided to support united Opposition candidate Meira Kumar,” Mr. Singh told journalists.
Call for help
He also said that the former Lok Sabha Speaker’s representatives had made a phone call to Mr. Kejriwal seeking their support for her candidature.
The AAP’s vote share accounts for around 9,000 as it has 67 MLAs in Delhi and 20 in Punjab, apart from four MPs from Punjab, which is less than 1% of the total votes in the Presidential election.
Mr. Singh said the AAP was also backing Ms. Kumar because the Opposition had a major role to play in the country’s politics in the present circumstances.
‘Strong Oppn. needed’
Sources from the party were already voicing the AAP’s support for Ms. Kumar because pitching an Independent candidate would not have made sense.
Leaders had said Ms. Kumar’s political credentials and history made her a suitable candidate.
“The election of the President and the Vice-President should be above partisan politics and we would have preferred a consensus candidate. But in the present circumstances, we prefer a strong and united Opposition,” Mr. Singh said.
Ms. Kumar is the candidate of the combined Opposition, but parties such as JD(U) and BSP have declared their support for Ram Nath Kovind. AAP, however, was not invited to the 17-party meet where Ms. Kumar’s candidature was decided.
Ms. Kumar had filed her nomination in the presence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a number of Opposition leaders on June 28.
