Opposition Presidential candidate Meira Kumar meets Mayawati

Lucknow, July 14 (IANS) Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar called on Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday to canvass support for the July 17 Presidential election.

Accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Raj Babbar and senior party leader Pramod Tiwari, she drove to the BSP state headquarters here to meet Mayawati.

The former state Chief Minister told Meira Kumar that her party had already declared its support for her candidature.

Meira Kumar was slated to later meet Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav.

The Samajwadi Party has 47 legislators, the BSP 19 and the Congress seven in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh assembly.

Mayawati had earlier announced that in case the Congress put up a better and more popular Dalit leader as a candidate for the Presidential election, she would support him or her.

Senior Congress leader Meira Kumar, fielded by various opposition parties led by the Congress, is pitted against the National Democratic Alliance’s Ram Nath Kovind.

While Akhilesh Yadav’s party has made its support for her candidature clear, doubts remain as party mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav and his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav have favoured Kovind.

Meira Kumar is urging state lawmakers for a conscience vote.

Voting will be held in the Tilak Hall of the assembly between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on July 17, an official said.