Kovind to meet MPs a day before Prez polls

NEW DELHI: The Parliament Library Building here will witness yet another show of strength by the ruling alliance on July 16 on the eve of the presidential polls, when NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind will interact with all supporting MPs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and a galaxy of prominent politicians even from non-NDA parties had accompanied Kovind when he filed his nomination papers on June 23.
“The party has already communicated to all MPs to be present for an interaction with Kovind and also exercise their votes in Parliament on July 17. They have also been given tips about how to cast their vote,” said a senior BJP functionary.
Kovind’s poll managers expect that out of 776 MPs from both Houses, at least 550 will vote for the NDA candidate. “We are expecting more than 4 lakh out of 5.55 lakh Parliament votes. Even of 5.49 lakh assembly votes, Kovind will fetch more than 3.5 lakh,” the BJP member said. The total value of votes in presidential polls is 11,04,546 of which NDA hopes Kovind will fetch more than 7.5 lakh.
He said the most surprising trends could emerge from UP which has the highest value of votes in the presidential polls. “We are expecting votes even from non-BJP MLAs and MPs in various states, including UP,” he said.
Meanwhile, hours before opposition’s presidential nominee Meira Kumar arrived in Patna on Thursday on a three-day visit to seek support for her candidature, an unwell CM Nitish Kumar left for Rajgir.