Pratibha Patil campaigns in Bihar

The UPA presidential nominee arrives in Bihar to meet state legislators and MPs ahead of the July 19 polls.

Pratibha Patil, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) presidential nominee, arrived in Bihar on Tuesday to meet legislators and MPs from the state ahead of the July 19 election.

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Patil kicked off her campaign soon after her arrival by meeting legislators of the opposition Congress and other parties in the state assembly, Congress spokesperson Kripanath Pathak said.

"Her interaction with the UPA legislators was smooth and warm, who promised their support and votes for her," Pathak said.

She was scheduled to meet state Congress president Sadanand Singh, leader of opposition and former chief minister Rabri Devi, wife of railway minister Lalu Prasad, and Left party leaders during her short visit before leaving for Jharkhand in the afternoon for a similar campaign.

Lalu Prasad, who is also the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief, accompanied Patil and appealed to the legislators to support her to ensure there was a woman in the president's seat for the first time in India.

Pathak said senior Congress leaders including Digvijay Singh, Vishnu Prasad and Pervez Hashmi had already arrived in Patna to welcome Patil.

Bihar has 243 legislators including 146 from the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine, 65 from the opposition RJD-Congress alliance, 11 from the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and 21 others.