LUCKNOW: Though Uttar Pradesh has given the nation a number of prime ministers, it will be perhaps for the first time that the politically-crucial state will have the pride of sending someone to Rashtrapati Bhavan if NDA nominee Ramnath Kovind becomes president.
The closest the state came to having its representative in the President’s House was in 1969, when Mohammad Hidaytullah became the first Acting President of India from July 20, 1969 to August 24, 1969.
Following the death of President Zakir Hussain on May 3, 1969, Varahgiri Venkat Giri, who was then the Vice President of India, was appointed as Acting President of India.
As he resigned in a few months to take part in the presidential elections, Hidayatullah, who had served as the Chief Justice of India, took over as the Acting President until the election of V V Giri as the President of India.
Hidaytullah was born on December 17, 1905 in Lucknow in a well-known family of Khan Bahadur Hafiz Mohammed Wilayatullah, an upper-class family. His grandfather Munshi Kudartullah was an advocate in Varanasi.
BJP today picked 71-year-old Bihar Governor Kovind as the NDA nominee for the top constitutional post. (AGENCIES)
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