With his nomination papers filed, NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind will begin his election campaign from June 25. He will visit all the states, starting with Uttar Pradesh.
He filed three sets of nomination on Friday, with senior NDA leaders endorsing his candidature. One set of endorsement was by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party patriarch L.K. Advani. Home Minister Rajnath Singh seconded his nomination. The second nomination set had BJP chief Amit Shah and senior BJP leader M.M. Joshi endorsing it, while Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seconded it. The third set saw an endorsement by former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, seconded by Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu.
When BJP made a show of strength, its ally Shiv Sena was missing from the scene. Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar called up Shiv Sena MP Anandrao Adsul. Sources claimed there were some misunderstandings and communication gap, which was sorted out. They are on board, the source added.
Goa CM Manohar Parrikar could not come as he was taken sick, while Jammu and Kashmir CM was embroiled in a fresh crisis in the valley—a policeman was lynched in downtown Srinagar.
After filing his nomination, Kovind said, “Since I became governor, I have not belonged to any political party. I believe the president's post should be above political considerations. I will always try my best for the country's development, to fulfil the aspirations of youth and encouraging education when we are about to celebrate 75 years of India's independence.”
BJP claimed 28 political parties supported their nominee. “We have over 65 percent of the votes,” a BJP general secretary said.
Kovind will go to all the state capitals and make a joint appeal to all the MLAs and MPs to vote for him.
