New Delhi: Uddhav Thackeray, locked in a tussle with the Bharatiya Janata Party since a section of Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled bringing his government down, has announced that the Shiv Sena, will support the National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate, Droupadi Murmu.
Thackeray said the Sena is announcing support to Murmu without any pressure. “Nobody pressured me in the meeting of Sena MPs,” he added.
Several Sena Lok Sabha MPs had attended a key meeting on the presidential elections a day ago at ‘Matoshree’, the private residence of Shiv Sena chief Thackeray in Bandra.
The MPs had asked Uddhav Thackeray to support Droupadi Murmu’s candidature, as The Wire had reported.
“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,” he said.
“Actually, going by the present political atmosphere, I should not have backed her. But we are not narrow minded,” he said.
Almost 40 MLAs – led by dissident Sena leader Eknath Shinde – rebelled against Thackeray, resulting in the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra. Thackeray resigned in the aftermath of the collapse and Shinde is now the chief minister of Maharashtra, with the support of BJP.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut said Shiv Sena had earlier backed UPA presidential nominees like Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee. “The Sena has the tradition of going beyond politics. We believe in backing people in the national interest,” he said.
Murmu is likely to be elected the next president, considering that several regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal (of Odisha, where Murmu is from), the YSR Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Telugu Desam Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Shiromani Akali Dal and now Shiv Sena have pitched support to her candidature.