Positive about prez nominee, but non-political Dalit name

BSP boss Mayawati today said her party is positive about the NDA nominating Ram Nath Kovind for the presidential election but wished the ruling alliance had named a non-political Dalit candidate for the top post.
"Although Kovind has been associated with the RSS and the BJP from the beginning but since he is a Dalit, our party's stand towards him cannot be negative. It will be positive, provided Opposition parties do not field any Dalit for the post who is more capable and popular than him," she told newspersons here.
"Kovind is not the first Dalit who has been brought forward for the post of president... K R Narayanan, a Dalit, had also been president," she said.

The BSP chief, however, stressed that it would have been better had the Opposition parties been taken into confidence on the choice.
"Had the BJP and NDA brought any non-political Dalit for the post, it would have been better," she said.
Mayawati said she was informed by senior BJP leaders Amit Shah and Venkaiah Naidu over phone that Kovind, who belonged to Dalit caste, will be NDA candidate for the post of the president.
"But his introduction is that he is a member of Kori caste who are very less in number in the country and he has been associated with the RSS and the BJP since the beginning and so I do not agree with his political background," she added.