NEW DELHI: Samajwadi party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav unequivocally praised the NDA choice in Kovind, saying he has known the former Bihar Governor for a long time.
The dilemma of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) seems apparent, with the party chief Mayawati in statement having already stated that she cannot take negative stand even while she kept her choices open.
With the support of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), YSR Congress, AINRC, the EPS faction of the AIADMK, the 29 outfits strong NDA seems on course to bag almost nine lakh of the total 10,95,619 votes.
“The Left, RJD and the Congress, besides a few smaller parties may remain opposed to the NDA nominee. Kovind will easily beat the 2012 performance of the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee, who had polled 69 per cent votes. He may end up polling four-fifth of the total votes,” said a senior BJP functionary.
The BJP chief is reportedly in touch with leaders of the Nationalist Congress party (NCP) to gain the support of the party in the Presidential poll.
While the Opposition parties have called a meeting on June 22 to take a decision on putting up a candidate against the NDA nominee, the saffron outfit is counting on Dalit card to isolate the Congress and Left.
The NDA Presidential nominee on Tuesday met scores of Union Ministers, including Rajnath Singh. Kovind was accorded the security of the NSG late on Tuesday evening.