Presidential polls: Ruling AIADMK announces support to NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind

Chennai: Tamil Nadu's AIADMK has extended its support to NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind with state Chief Minister Edapaddi Palaniswami saying he will support his candidature. 

"Have decided to support NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind," CM Palaniswami told news agency ANI. 

Earlier today, Janata Dal (United) extended its support with party spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan saying, "JD(U) has decided to support Kovind in the presidential election. Since the party has decided to support the NDA nominee, there is no need to attend the meeting of the opposition parties convened by Congress President Sonia Gandhi."

On the other hand, ahead of the crucial meeting on the presidential elections, cracks seems to have appeared in the Opposition with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) deciding to skip the party meet scheduled for Thursday. 

Earlier, the opposition camp rejected to support NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind and announced to field its own candidate for the post. 

Meanwhile, former speaker Meira Kumar’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence today, a day before the party meeting, has fuelled speculation that she had emerged as the front runner for the candidature.

However, the BJP appears to have the requisite number with parties outside the alliance like AIADMK, JD(U), PDP, BJD and YRS Congress extending their support to the saffron party's pick as the president.