former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar has been chosen as the presidential candidate by the Opposition against NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind. Announcing her candidature at a press conference in Delhi, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “Opposition parties have unanimously proposed the name of Meira Kumar for the upcoming Rashtrapathi Election…” Calling her a “crusader for social justice”, Azad said the Opposition couldn’t have picked a better candidate.
There was already enough speculation since the 72-year-old Congress leader met Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday at the latter’s residence. As the news broke out on social media, Twitterati were ready with some witty quips, mostly referring to Kumar’s propensity to tell Parliament members to sit down when she was the Lok Sabha Speaker.
#MeiraKumar
Kids like – IPL
Men like – IND Vs PAK
Legend like – KOVIND Vs MEIRA KUMAR— Avinash (@avicing07) June 22, 2017
#MeiraKumar to be Opposition's Presidential candidate.
Dangerous choice.
Entire Republic Day Parade will stop if she says "Baith Jaiye".— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) June 22, 2017
Nice. #MeiraKumar ji Pres candidate.She already has what Pratibha Patil ji strived to achieve during her presidency..Foreign Tour experience
— Paresh Rawal fan (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) June 22, 2017
Once again a General category person sacrificed his job due to reservation #PresidentialElection #KovindVsKumar #MeiraKumar #RamNathKovind pic.twitter.com/chiBeqCW3F
— चालू पांडे (@chaloo_pandey) June 22, 2017
#MeiraKumar's name for Presidential election is like Bahubali to be released on Eid. No matter how good you are, you'll lose to bhai.
— IMRAN KHAN (@imranmkkhan) June 22, 2017
sharing what went out in the meeting held by the seventeen members at the Parliament library, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said: “Between the other four names we considered — Meira Kumar, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Bhalchandra Mungekar and Prakash Ambedkar — the point was we chose a name on which everyone agreed. It was an unanimous choice of all the Opposition parties and we have appealed to others in the opposition to support her.”
Coincidentally, Kumar too belongs to Dalit community and she also hails from Bihar just like BJP’s Kovind. The elections are all set to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will resign from his position and leave the office on July 24.
