President poll | PM Modi meets NDA's President pick Ram Nath Kovind in presence of BJP chief Amit Shah

BJP's Presidential candidate and Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter's official residence 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. BJP president Amit Shah was also present on the occasion. 

Earlier, Kovind thanked people of Bihar after being selected as NDA's candidate for Presidential poll. 

"My best wishes for prosperity and development of people of Bihar," Kovind said in an exclusive interaction with News Nation.  He further thanked people of Bihar for supporting him. "I thank the people of Bihar for their support," he said. 

Earlier, BJP President Amit Shah made the announcement of Kovind's name as NDA's candidate for Presidential poll after party's parliamentary board meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior party leaders.

Who is Ram Nath Kovind?

 A crusader for the rights of the weaker sections of the society, 71-year-old Ram Nath Kovind is a lawyer-turned-politician, whose choice as the BJP-led NDA’s presidential candidate is being seen as a political masterstroke.

The reason — many parties would not like to oppose a Dalit being elected to the country’s highest office. A champion of the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, OBC, minority and women’s rights from his student days, Kovind is the present Governor of Bihar.

A former president of the BJP Dalit Morcha (1998—2002), Kovind has also served as a national spokesperson of the party. He was also the president of the All-India Koli Samaj. On August 8, 2015, he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar.

A commerce graduate and LLB from the Kanpur University in Uttar Pradesh, Kovind has been a successful lawyer. He practiced in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979 and was the central government’s standing counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1994 from Uttar Pradesh and served two consecutive terms until March 2006. In Parliament, Kovind was a member of many important committees, especially the parliamentary committee on the welfare of scheduled castes/tribes, the parliamentary panel on social justice and empowerment and the committee on law and justice.

#WATCH: Bihar Governor and NDA presidential nominee #RamNathKovind meets PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/dAhXJG9R20

— ANI (@ANI_news) June 19, 2017

Kovind joined a stir by SC/ST employees when in 1997 certain orders were issued by the Centre which adversely affected their interests. These orders were later declared null and void after the passage of three amendments in the Constitution during the rule of the first NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.