JD(U) to back Ram Nath Kovind's candidature in presidential poll: Party MLA

PATNA: The JD(U) has decided to back the candidature of the NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, party MLA Ratnesh Sada said today.

"The JD(U) has decided to back Kovind's candidature in the presidential election," Sada told reporters here, claiming that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the JD(U) national president, as having told the party legislators about it at a meeting this morning.

"The chief minister told us that the JD(U) will support Kovind's candidature in the presidential election as he is a good man. There were about 60 JD(U) MLAs present in the meeting and they echoed the chief minister's view," Sada said.

The JD(U) legislators said at the meeting that it was "a matter of pride for Bihar" that a governor serving the state had been made a candidate for the president's post, the JD(U) MLA from Sonbarsa in Saharsa district said.

JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi, however, said that the party would make clear its stand on the presidential election after its core group meeting, being presided by the chief minister.

The JD(U)'s stand to back Kovind in the presidential election would be a setback to the opposition unity.

The 18-member opposition group is scheduled to meet in Delhi tomorrow to take a decision on the issue after the Congress and some other opposition parties made it clear that they would oppose Kovind's candidature.