Sources told NDTV that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has accepted the demand of its MPs and will support BJP-led NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu in the presidential election to be held on July 18. The party is already underdeveloped after Eknath Shinde broke down and replaced Mr Thackeray as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra with the support of the BJP.
The decision to support Ms Murmu comes a day after 16 of the party’s 22 MPs asked Mr Thackeray to support them “because she is a woman from a tribal community”. If elected – which is everything the NDA has except numbers – she would The first tribal woman to become the President of India, This is a factor in Maharashtra, where about 10 per cent of the population belongs to the Scheduled Tribes.
Team Thackeray’s Sanjay Raut said Tomorrow that supporting Ms. Murmu “will not mean supporting the BJP”.
Draupadi Murmu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the Shiv Sena revolt last month, Mr Shinde’s faction was demanding that Uddhav Thackeray leave the Congress and the NCP, so that “natural allies” can come back with the BJP. But Mr Thackeray refused and resigned after most of his MLAs went in favor of Mr Shinde.
Yesterday was another test of strength as Uddhav Thackeray called a meeting of party MPs – 22 in Lok Sabha, 19 in Lok Sabha, three in Rajya Sabha. Six of them who are with Eknath Shinde- Thus already standing in Ms. Murmu’s corner – didn `t come. And 16 of Thackeray’s loyalists also sided with Ms. Murmu. The party had no choice as there is no binding ‘whip’ in these elections, so MPs can vote as they wish.
The Shiv Sena was earlier supporting former Union minister Yashwant Sinha – who had a long stint with the BJP a few years back – as a “joint opposition candidateHowever, several non-NDA parties have chosen to support Ms Murmu citing her tribal identity.