Shiv Sena Will Support NDA’s Presidential Candidate Murmu: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Shiv Sena will support Droupadi Murmu for Presidential elections, the party’s chief Uddhav Thackeray announced on Tuesday.

Thackeray said Shiv Sena is announcing support to Murmu without any pressure. He said, ‘No one put pressure on me in the meeting of Shiv Sena MPs.

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“The tribal leaders of my party told me that this is the first time that a tribal woman is getting a chance to become the president,” he said.

Uddhav said that considering the current political climate, he should not have supported Murmu, but is doing so because his party is not narrow-minded.

On Monday, most of the Shiv Sena Lok Sabha members said they would support Murmu over opposition-backed candidate Yashwant Sinha in a meeting to discuss the party’s stand on the presidential election.

It is learned that MPs had indicated to former CM Thackeray that after Shiv Sena formally backs Murmu, some doors may be reopened for a patch-up with the Eknath Shinde camp and the BJP. The meeting was attended by 12 out of 19 party MPs.

Uddhav’s decision to support NDA’s Murmu comes at a time when Shiv Sena is facing political turmoil in Maharashtra after most of its MLAs defected to the Eknath Shinde-led rebel faction, which has formed the government in alliance with the BJP.

Meanwhile, there is speculation that a section of Shiv Sena MPs may split and join the Shinde faction, as 40 out of 55 Shiv Sena MLAs have already done.

Voting for the Presidential election will be held on 18 July and the counting of votes will take place on 21 July.

Droupadi Murmu is the former governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister.

If elected, she will be the first tribal President of India and the country’s second female President.

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