Prez poll: Cong urges TRS to reconsider support to Kovind

Hyderabad: "Should a person who is opposed to reservation for Muslim and Christian minorities occupy the post of the President," Telangana Congress chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday wondered, referring to the NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

Reddy referred to a seven-year-old remark of Kovind in which he reportedly said that Islam and Christianity were "alien" to India and urged the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in the state to reconsider its decision to back Kovind for the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"It is on record that Ram Nath Kovind, who is an RSS activist, has said that Islam and Christianity are alien to India. He said this on March 26, 2010 in a press conference.

This was widely reported in newspapers in Delhi," he told reporters.

Kovind had opposed reservation for minority Muslims and also rejected the Ranganath Mishra Commission report which proposed reservations for Muslims and Christians and other minorities, Reddy claimed.

"He (Kovind) also said that Dalit status should not be given to Dalit Christians. Now, a person, who holds such views, should he occupy the highest constitutional post of India? We think not," he said.

The state unit president of the Congress "hoped" that Telangana Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao would reconsider his decision to support Kovind as he is "opposed to Muslims and Christians and specifically opposed reservation to Muslims and giving SC status to Dalit Christians."

He hoped that all electorate in Telangana would vote for the joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar.

"Will he (Chandrasekhar Rao) not express his gratitude to Meira Kumar who was Speaker of Lok Sabha when Telangana

Bill was passed. We hope the entire electorate of Telangana will vote for Meira Kumar," he said.