GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 12th July. The Shiv Sena core committee, led by Uddhav Thackeray, has decided to back NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming presidential election, party leader Sanjay Raut said on Monday, while stressing that this does not imply support for the BJP.
The development comes a day after several Shiv Sena MPs who attended a meeting convened by Uddhav Thackeray at his Mumbai residence “requested” him to support NDA candidate Murmu for President and open the door to a likely patch-up with the BJP and the breakaway Eknath Shinde faction, reports said.
A total of 16 MPs said the party must back NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
“The Shiv Sena has decided to support Murmu in the presidential election, but this does not imply that we support the BJP,” Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday.
The presidential elections are scheduled for July 18, and there is no whip for the presidential elections, so MPs are free to vote however they see fit. Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar told the media that 16 Sena MPs had agreed that Murmu should be elected because she is a “tribal community woman.”
“She is an NDA candidate but Droupadi Murmu belongs to the tribal community and is a woman. We should give her our support – this was the demand by all MPs (of the party). Uddhav ji told us that he will tell us his decision in a day or two,” Kirtikar said.
Sixteen of the Sena’s 18 Lok Sabha MPs physically attended the key meeting on the presidential elections, and all agreed to support Murmu, according to Kiritkar. “Two MPs were absent: Bhavana Gawali and Shrikant Shinde.” “All of the party’s other MPs were present at the meeting,” he added.
The Sena has 18 Lok Sabha MPs from Maharashtra and one from Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Kalaben Delkar.
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