(PTI)
The NDA’s presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind today held a meeting with MPs and MLAs of the ruling BJP in Uttarakhand at Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat’s official residence here to canvass support for himself.
The closed-door meeting, chaired by the chief minister, lasted for two hours, official sources here said.
All 57 party legislators and two out of the five party MPs from the state and one Independent MLA, Pritam Singh Panwar, were present at the meeting, they said. BJP MPs and former chief ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank could not attend the meeting due to their personal engagements.
Earlier in the day, Kovind was received at the Jolly Grant airport by the chief minister who took him to his official residence. The NDA’s presidential pick was gifted a shawl, an urn filled with water from the Ganga river and a book on the history of Uttarakhand.
Kovind had yesterday embarked on a nationwide tour from his home state Uttar Pradesh to garner support of various political parties for him in the July 17 presidential election. Sources in the BJP had said a Union minister, a senior party leader and two MPs would accompany Kovind on his nationwide tour to reach out to all the members of the electoral college.
