May 18, 2026 05:16 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Kathak to Garba: Indian diaspora stuns PM Modi with grand welcome in Amsterdam | ‘Geography or history’: Indian Army chief issues blunt warning to Pakistan over terror support | India, UAE ink key energy deals during Modi’s visit amid West Asia tensions | ‘There can be no better Bengal CM’: Mithun Chakraborty praises Suvendu Adhikari | PM Modi adviser Sanjeev Sanyal frontrunner for Bengal Finance Minister: Report | FIR against Abhishek Banerjee over ‘provocative speeches’ during West Bengal poll campaign | Madhya Pradesh High Court holds Bhojshala complex disputed site to be a temple | ‘Even ex-CM can be probed’: Suvendu Adhikari’s big statement on RG Kar case | Big action in RG Kar case: Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari suspends 3 IPS officers, including ex-CP Vineet Goyal | Modi’s UAE visit delivers major defence, energy deals amid Middle East tensions

BJP picks up Bihar Governor and Dalit leader Ram Nath Kovind as Presidential candidate

| | Jun 19, 2017, at 08:11 pm
New Delhi, June 19 (IBNS) : Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit leader, is the National Democratic Alliance’s choice for India's next President, BJP chief Amit Shah said on Monday.

He made the announcement after a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board.

Shah said PM Modi talked with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as well as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and informed them about the NDA's choice.

"We are for putting up a candidate from the Dalit community, who has fought his way to rise. We have conveyed it...Now they (Congress and others) will discuss among themselves and decide," Shah said.

A two-time member of Rajya Sabha and former national spokesperson of the party, Kovind headed the BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha between 1999 and 2002.

Kovind comes from the Koli community, which is classified as scheduled caste in Uttar Pradesh.

Born in 1945, Kovind was a member of the Upper House between 1994 and 2000 and between 2000 and 2006.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.