UP minister asks SP, BSP to shed 'narrow politics' and vote for Kanpur-born Ram Nath Kovind

Ballia: The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party should shed “narrow politcs” and support NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind who hails from Uttar Pradesh, state minister Srikant Sharma said on Wednesday. “For the first time, UP has got a chance to give a president. People of the state are feeling proud after his candidature was declared. The SP and the BSP should shed narrow politics and support Kovind,” he told reporters in Ballia. The 71-year-old Kovind was born in Kanpur (rural) in the state. A lawyer-turned-politician, he has also served as the governor of Bihar. [caption id=“attachment_3723805” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ram Nath Kovind. PTI[/caption] On the Ram temple issue, Sharma said construction of the temple through consensus was in everyone’s interest and “our government will take an initiative for this”. Attacking the previous Akhilesh Yadav government, Sharma, who is also the state’s energy minister, alleged that payments worth crores of rupees were made to contractors without completion of work. “We are probing such cases and strict action will be taken against the contractors and officials involved,” he added.