NDA candidate, but Draupadi Murmu belongs to the tribal community

Mumbai: In a meeting called by Uddhav Thackeray on Monday, 16 MPs said that the party should extend its support to NDA’s presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. Presidential elections are due on 18 July, and there is no whip for the presidential election and MPs can vote as they wish. Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar told the media that in the meeting, 16 MPs agreed that the party should support Draupadi Murmu, as she is a “woman from the tribal community”.

Kirtikar said, “She is an NDA candidate, but Draupadi Murmu belongs to the tribal community and is a woman. We should extend our support to them, this has been the demand of all the MPs (of the party). Uddhav ji told us that he will tell us his decision in a day or two.’ Gajanan Kirtikar said that out of total 18 Lok Sabha MPs of Shiv Sena, 16 physically participated in the crucial meeting on Presidential election and all came out to support Murmu. But agreed. Only two Shiv Sena MPs Shrikant Shinde and Bhawna Gawli were not present in the meeting.

Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar further said that the party had supported UPA candidates – Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee in the past. He said that Uddhav Thackeray will announce his support for Draupadi Murmu, as she is a tribal woman, and it is important to look beyond politics for the presidential election. Kirtikar said, “We supported UPA candidate Pratibha Patil because she is a Marathi woman. We supported UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee. Uddhav ji will announce her (Draupadi Murmu) support because she is a tribal woman. We should look beyond politics for the presidential election.

Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the meeting took place at ‘Matoshree’, but did not give any other details in this regard. Apart from 18 Lok Sabha members in Maharashtra, the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu also have Shiv Sena MP Kalaben Delkar. Let us tell you that the United Opposition has made Yashwant Sinha its candidate for the presidential election. Sharad Pawar and his party are supporting Sinha. Congress is also with Sinha. Shiv Sena is involved in Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with these two parties. Now party MPs, by supporting Murmu, have put Uddhav Thackeray, who is already facing the pain of rebellion, in confusion.