TRS backs NDA candidate, claims credit for nod to Dalit

In a boost to the NDA's choice of candidate in the presidential election, the ruling TRS in Telangana today backed the BJP's nominee and claimed it had suggested earlier fielding a Dalit candidate.

Soon after Ram Nath Kovind's candidature was announced for the president's post on behalf of the NDA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and requested his support, the CM's office said in a release.

The PM told the CM "as per your (the chief minister's) suggestion, we have decided upon a Dalit candidate for the presidential post," and requested his support for the candidate, the release said.

Immediately after receiving Modi's call, the chief minister consulted his party colleagues. "Later, he conveyed his party's support for the presidential candidate to the PM," it said.

TRS floor leader in Lok Sabha, A P Jithender Reddy, told

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