INDIA. Mumbai: NDA’s Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu held a meeting with Maharashtra BJP MLAs and the MLAs belonging to the Eknath Shinde faction, at Hotel Leela located near the Mumbai international airport on Thursday.
Murmu in a customary meeting urged the MLAs to vote for her in the election scheduled to be held on July 18. The BJP leaders-Union Ministers-Nitin Gadkari, Narayan Rane, Piyush Goyal, Ramdas Athavale, State BJP Chief Chandrakant Patil, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar and others participated in the meeting. On the occasion, Murmu urged all the members to vote in her favour.
The MLAs sported yellow head gears and scarves, a symbol of tribal culture in India, to welcome Murmu. The 164 MLAs, had voted in favour of the Eknath Shinde faction-BJP Government in a floor test held on July 04. With Shiv Sena Party Chief Uddhav Thackeray declaring support for Murmu, she is expected to get the support of majority legislators except, the Congress, NCP, and left parties.
Thackeray has pledged his party’s support to Murmu, the first tribal woman candidate in the race for the Presidential post. Thackeray on Wednesday made it clear that the Shiv Sena declared support to Murmu given the opinion expressed by party MPs and also welcomed the first tribal woman candidate occupying the highest position in the country. There was no outside pressure to pledge support to Murmu, Thackeray said.
Murmu, accompanied by BJP leader Vinod Tawade, who reached Mumbai from Goa was received at the airport by Maharashtra Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. A dance troupe from Palghar presented a traditional tribal dance to welcome Murmu at the hotel.
However, the MPs and MLAs belonging to Shiv Sena were not seen at the airport. It was not clear whether they would meet Murmu separately. It was expected that Thackeray would meet Murmu. But Thackeray’s name did not figure in the itinerary of Murmu.
Murmu is pitted against the Congress-backed United Progress Alliance’s candidate former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha. As of now, the stakes are in favour of Murmu indicating that she would win comfortably.
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