Thackeray Forced To Back NDA’s Presidential Candidate: Yashwant Sinha
Mumbai: Opposition candidate for Presidential polls Yashwant Sinha said that ex-Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was “forced” to declare that his party would support the NDA’s candidate, Droupadi Murmu.
The remarks came hours after party chief Uddhav Thackeray severed ties with his Maha Vikas Aghadi allies and announced that the Shiv Sena would support the NDA candidate.
He said that this is the first time that a tribal woman has been given a chance to become the President.
“I am not only fighting a political party, but I am also fighting for the government and finally the cat is out of the bag and Shiv Sena was forced…Uddhav Thackeray was forced to declare that they would support the NDA candidate,” an Economic Times report quoted Sinha as saying.
“There has been absolutely no pressure from the MPs, as claimed in the media. However, many Sena leaders and office-bearers from tribal communities have requested us. Tribal leaders of my party told me that this was the first time that a tribal woman is getting the chance to become the President. We have taken a decision to support Draupadi Murmu for the President’s elections,” Thackeray had said yesterday.
“Actually going by the present political atmosphere, I should not have backed her because she is a candidate of the BJP. But we are not narrow-minded,” he added.
The party is divided over the facts of Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde after the rebellion supported by over 40 MLAs. Shinde took an oath as the chief minister last month with the support of the BJP. This group had already supported Murmu.
After getting the support of some regional parties like the BJD, YSR Congress, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal and now Shiv Sena, the vote share of Murmu has already crossed 60 per cent. It was around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination on June 24.
Major non-BJP parties like the Congress, TMC and NCP meanwhile continue to back Sinha, a former union minister, as the joint nominee for the presidential elections.
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