Soon after Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind’s name was announced as NDA’s presidential nominee, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday drove into Governor House with a bouquet in hand to congratulate Mr. Kovind and, later, said it was a matter of personal happiness for him that Bihar Governor has been nominated as the Presidential candidate. On his party’s stand, Mr Kumar said it was not right to answer such question now.
“For me it’s a matter of personal happiness that Bihar Governor has been nominated as Presidential candidate by the NDA…as a state’s CM it was my duty to meet the Governor after his name was announced for the next Presidential candidate…I’d come to express my respect to him”, Nitish Kumar told journalists after coming out of the Governor house. Mr Kumar had a brief meeting with the Governor before Mr Kovind’s departure for Delhi in the evening.
When asked about his party’s stand on the nomination of Mr. Kovind as NDA’s Presidential candidate, Mr. Kumar said it was not right to answer such question now, though, he has spoken to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and expressed his feeling on the issue. However, sources in the JD(U) told The Hindu that Mr. Kumar has apprised both his alliance party chiefs that his party would support Mr. Kovind as the Presidential nominee. Mr. Kumar also said that as Bihar Governor Mr. Kovind had discharged his duties in a fine way and maintained his relation ideally with the state government which, “will always be remembered”.
Meanwhile, the state Congress chief Ashok Choudhary too praised Mr. Kovind’s tenure as a Bihar Governor and said “he (Mr Kovind) has been a good human being as he has been meeting him as an education minister of the state”. However, “decision on the issue of presidential candidate will be taken by the party high command”, added Mr. Choudhary.
The NDA leaders like Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi welcomed the “masterstroke of BJP” to nominate a Dalit as a presidential candidate. “Earlier, I’d demanded that BJP should nominate a Dalit as a Presidential candidate of India and who could be the better choice than intellectual, erudite and a good administrator like Ram Nath Kovind…with this decision BJP has also shown that its not an anti-dalit party”, said Mr Manjhi. The senior state BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav and others too welcomed the party’s decision to nominate a person like Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind for the post of President and expressed their happiness.
However, political observers of the state said this “masterstroke of the BJP” will create a rift between the grand alliance partners in Bihar as well. “RJD may not go with the decision of alliance partner Nitish Kumar on the issue of Mr. Kovind as NDA’s Presidential nominee but everything will depend on what decision the Congress party takes on the issue”, said one of them.
