Opposition candidate for President Meira Kumar sought to reach out to political parties in Telangana, while harping on her role as Speaker when the Lok Sabha passed the Bill for the State’s creation in 2014.

Her visit comes a day before her rival, BJP candidate Ram Nath Kovind, arrives in the city. Telangana’s ruling TRS has already pledged support to Kovind.

Meira hopes to gain the votes of Asaduddin Owaisi’s MIM, which though yet to announce its preference, could back the Opposition candidate, given its principled anti-BJP stand. The former Lok Sabha Speaker appealed to the TRS to reconsider its decision, keeping in mind her role as Speaker when the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2014, which paved way for the creation of a Telangana State, was passed. Meira had drawn much criticism at the time, from parties such as the TDP and the YSR Congress, for blacking out telecast of the proceedings in the Lok Sabha.

“It is with immense pleasure that I come here to seek your support to uphold the high ideals and values that the Mahatma and great leaders have set for us to follow,” Meira Kumar told Congress MPs, MLAs and MLCs at Gandhi Bhavan, after garlanding the statue of her father and former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram. “I have also, a week ago, written to all the members of the Collegium, which elects the President to vote for values,” she added.

Later, addressing newspersons, Meira said the upcoming Presidential elections was a fight of ideologies.

She said her campaign, which began from Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, moved to Kerala, Karnataka, etc and everywhere she was enthused by the response.

Meanwhile, Meira has written to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, seeking his support. She would meet him personally.

On Tuesday, Kovind will arrive in Hyderabad, where the TRS has put up huge billboards welcoming him. The TRS, the TDP and the YSR Congress have endorsed his candidature.

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