Presidential polls: Ram Nath Kovind to kick-start campaign from UP today

NEW DELHI: NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will launch his campaign from Sunday with a visit to Lucknow, the capital of his home state, along with BJP national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav and Union minister Nitin Gadkari.
Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his senior ministerial colleagues will receive the NDA nominee at Amausi airport.BJP sources said Kovind will meet with some members of the collegium of voters at the CM’s residence on Sunday evening.
Besides Gadkari and Yadav, Lok Sabha MPs — Ramesh Bidhuri and Ganesh Singh— will also accompany him.
Being the most populous state, UP has the highest number of voters in the collegium. Kovind hails from Kanpur Dehat village and had been two-time Rajya Sabha MP from the state.
“All MPs, MLAs and MLCs have been instructed to be present to interact with Kovind,” said a senior BJP functionary.
On Monday, the NDA nominee will be in Dehradun to interact with members of the collegium in Uttarakhand.
Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot and BJP functionaries Arun Singh (general secretary) and Anil Baluni (chief media coordinator) will accompany him. Baluni also hails from Uttarakhand and has been assigned to coordinate with the collegium members in his home state.