'Take decision in the best interest of India': Meira Kumar to Collegium

Opposition's nominee for the presidential polls Meira Kumar on Thursday appealed to the Collegium to caste their vote “in the best interest” of India.

“I would appeal to the Collegium to take decision in the best interest of the country based on cherished values, principles and ideologies,” she said in her first reactions after she was named as Opposition's presidential candidate against Ram Nath Kovind of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

A decision to fieled Kumar, a senior Congress leader from Bihar and daughter of Dalit icon Jagjivan Ram, against Kovind in the presidential polls was taken at a joint strategy meeting of the Opposition.

Seventeen political parties attended the meeting. “The unity of the Opposition represents the coming together of forces which have a strong ideological basis. I am going to contest as their candidate on the basis of this strong ideological base,” Kumar, who served as the first woman Lok Sabha speaker during the erstwhile regime of United Progressive Alliance (UPA),” told reporters.

She also expressed her gratitude towards Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Opposition parties for nominating her to the post of President.