PATNA: In a move that may jeopardise efforts to unite opposition at the national level and antagonize allies Congress and RJD in Bihar, the state’s ruling JD (U) on Wednesday decided to support NDA pick
Ram Nath Kovind in the presidential election slated for July 17.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the JD (U)’s core committee, chaired by party president and Bihar CM
Nitish Kumar. The meet, attended by Sharad Yadav, R C P Singh,
K C Tyagi
, Bashishtha Narayan Singh and few others, ignored the decision of the party’s Kerala unit earlier in the day not to vote for a presidential nominee having RSS background.
“The core committee unanimously decided to vote for the NDA nominee mainly because Kovind as the Bihar governor acted in a democratic and non-partisan manner and maintained an ideal relation with the state government headed by Nitish,” party’s national spokesperson K C Tyagi announced after the meeting.
Prior to the meeting, Nitish held discussions with the party MLAs. “The CM told us Kovind is a good person and discharges his duties in non-partisan manner. The 60-odd MLAs supported the CM’s opinion,” JD (U) whip in legislative assembly
Ratnesh Sada
told newsmen.
The party, which has 71 MLAs in the state’s 324-member legislative assembly, runs a coalition government with the support of 80 MLAs of RJD and 27 MLAs of Congress. The JD (U) has two members in the Lok Sabha and ten members in the Rajya Sabha, including nine from Bihar and one from Kerala.
Asked whether the JD (U) would attend the opposition’s meeting in Delhi on the presidential poll on Thursday, Tyagi replied in the negative. “However, the JD (U) will continue to work for strengthening opposition’s unity at the national level. Presidential election is one issue. We are with the opposition parties on several other issues,” he told reporters.
Earlier in the day, sources said, JD (U)’s Kerala unit president and Rajya Sabha member
M P Veerendra Kumar
called Nitish and informed him of the state unit’s decision. He is also learned to have told the party leadership that he would support the opposition candidate, if any.
The JD (U) does not have any MLA in Kerala as all its seven candidates were defeated in the assembly election in 2016.