Sonia: It is a fight of ideologies, principles

Meira files papers for Prez poll

New Delhi: Opposition presidential candidate Meira Kumar on Wednesday filed her nomination in the presence of top Congress and other opposition leaders and said it marked the beginning of her "fight of ideology".

Kumar, 72, who filed her papers with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh by her side, will launch her campaign from Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat on June 30.

"For us, it is a battle of ideologies, principles and truth and we will fight it," Gandhi said after the filing of nomination papers. Accompanying the former Lok Sabha speaker as she filed her nomination in Parliament House were a host of Opposition leaders, including NCPs Sharad Pawar and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

The Congress was represented by all its chief ministers - Amarinder Singh, Siddharamaiah, Virbhadra Singh, V Narayanasamy, Mukul Sangma - and its top leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge and Ambika Soni. Former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh attended the event as well.

Also present were CPIs D Raja, DMKs Kanimozhi, SPs Naresh Agrawal, BSPs Satish Chandra Misra, NCPs Tariq Anwar, JMMs Sanjeev Kumar and TMCs Derek OBrien and leaders of other opposition parties. Sonia Gandhi and other top Congress and Opposition leaders were amongst those who proposed and seconded Kumar’s nomination.