United Progressive Alliance presidential nominee Pratibha Patil was overwhelmed with assurance of 100 per cent support of the UPA and Left parties' legislators and members of Parliament of Bihar in the presidential election on July 19.
Pratibha kicked off her campaign in Bihar soon after her arrival in Patna on Tuesday. "She received a warm response from the legislators and MPs," Congress leader Azim Bari told rediff.com in Patna.
The UPA leaders tried to put up a united face during Pratibha's visit. All the top leaders of the UPA and Left parties, including Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, Lok Janshakti Party chief and Union Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan, former Bihar chief minister and leader of opposition in state Assembly Rabri Devi, RJD leader and Union Minister of Rural Development Raghvansh Prasad Singh, Union Minister of Company Affairs Prem Chand Gupta, Union Minister of State for Food Processing Subodh Kant Sahay and All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh were present during her interaction with UPA legislators and most of the MPs from Bihar in a posh hotel in Patna.
Pratibha also met other like minded legislators of Bihar Assembly, Congress spokesperson Kripanath Pathak said.
She met the state Congress president Sadanand Singh and Left parties' leaders during her short visit before leaving for Jharkhand in the afternoon for a similar campaign.
Lalu Prasad is making all efforts to avoid any chance of cross-voting in presidential polls. He appealed to the legislators to support her to ensure a woman in the President's seat for the first time in Indian history.
Bihar has 243 legislators including ruling Janata Dal-United and Bharatiya Janata Party (146), RJD and Congress (65), LJP (11), others (21), 40 Lok Sabha MPs and 16 Rajya Sabha MPs.
The total votes at stake in Bihar is 81,687 with the validity of votes for an MLA being 173 and an MP at 708.