Gopal Gandhi files papers, BJD too backs opposition pick

NEW DELHI: BJD, which had supported NDA presidential candidate, extended its support to Opposition’s vice-presidential nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who filed his nomination paper on Tuesday in the presence of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other leaders.

The odds are heavily favouring his opponent and NDA nominee Venkaiah Naidu in the electoral college. Responding to the Shiv Sena's attack on him for petitioning the president to save 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, he said, “I feel that the death penalty and capital punishment belong to the medieval ages. Death penalty is wrong and this is my principle… I am inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar.”