Lalu, Rabri endorses Pratibha Patil candidatur

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi today endorsed the name of the United Progressive Alliances presidential candidate Pratibha Patil.

New Delhi, June 21 : Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi today endorsed the name of the United Progressive Alliance's presidential candidate Pratibha Patil.

"After this signature, we will present the nomination papers on June 23 and I want to tell everyone that UPA's (United Progressive Alliance's) candidate Prathiba Patil will win hands down," Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister told reporters.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is supporting Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who is contesting as an independent candidate for the President post, has slammed Patil's nomination as a 'decision made out of compulsion' by the UPA.

Rajasthan Governor Pratibha Patil started her political career in 1962, when she became a Congress MLA in Maharashtra.

From 1967 to 1972, she was the Deputy Minister in Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing and Parliamentary Affairs.

She was a Cabinet Minister in the Maharashtra Government from 1972 to 1978 and headed different ministries like Public Health and Social Welfare, Cultural Affairs and Education.

She was the Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly from 1979 to 1980.

From1985 and 1990, she was a Rajya Sabha member and in 1986 she became the Deputy Chairman of the Upper House from 1986 to 1988.During this period she also headed Rajya Sabha Committee on Privileges and was a member of the Business Advisory Committee.

She was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991 on a Congress ticket, and in 2004 she was made the Governor of Rajasthan.

Among her social achievements, she was instrumental in setting up of an industrial training school for the blind, nursery school for children of Backward Castes and a Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Amaravati to teach new technique and scientific ways of cultivation to the farmers.

The voting to elect India's 13th President will be held on July 19 and counting is scheduled for July 21. Nominations can be filed till June 30.

An Electoral College comprising of all elected lawmakers in the national parliament and deputies in the provincial legislatures elects the President.

The term of incumbent President A.P.J Abdul Kalam ends on July 24.

ANI