Kovind is likely to meet MPs and MLAs of the BJP, its allies and also leaders of other political parties over dinner, sources said.
As the campaigning for Presidential race takes off, NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind and Opposition candidate Meira Kumar will start the race from the largest populated state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The value of each vote of an MLA of UP is 208, the highest in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand with 176 each. The electoral college includes elected members of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, states, union territories and the NCT region of Delhi.
"NDA's Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will be in the state capital tomorrow and will be going to Uttarakhand the next day," BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav said on Saturday. Kovind is likely to meet MPs and MLAs of the BJP, its allies and also leaders of other political parties over dinner, sources said. Kovind had been active in the Uttar Pradesh unit of BJP and was even appointed the general secretary when Laxmikant Bajpai was the party's state chief. But he chose to switch to the party's central unit.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will receive him at the airport and the meeting with the NDA members will take place at Adityanath's official residence in Lucknow, Yadav said. Besides Yadav, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and two members of Parliament will accompany Kovind during his Lucknow leg of the tour. On Monday, he will fly to Uttarakhand. He will be joined by Union Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot and Anil Baluni, who is the BJP's media head and belongs to the hill state, besides two other MPs. Though his meeting will be with the supporting MPs and MLAs, Kovind will make an appeal to all the members of the electoral college in every state to support his candidature.
A senior Congress leader said the Opposition's presidential pick Meira Kumar might also pay a visit to Lucknow to seek votes as the party "will not leave any stone unturned" for the election. "She, in all probability, will be accompanied by AICC general secretary Gulam Nabi Azad and is likely to meet all elected representatives, cutting across party affiliations," he said.
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