Nagpur: Soon after their meeting with former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kiritkar said 16 MPs of the party have requested the party chief to extend support to NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu.
Kiritkar in a statement said, “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.”
The former chief minister is expected to take a decision on the same in a couple of days. The MP also stated that the state has a chunk of the tribal population. 16 out of 18 Lok Sabha MPs of Sena physically attended the meeting called by Thackeray for the presidential elections.
The Sena MP further said that the party has supported UPA candidates in the past – Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee, and now Thackeray should support Murmu because she is a tribal woman and it is important for him to see beyond politics for presidential polls.
“We had supported Pratibha Patil, a UPA candidate, as she’s a Marathi woman. We had supported Pranab Mukherjee, a UPA candidate.
Uddhav Ji will announce support to her (Droupadi Murmu) as she’s a tribal woman. We should see beyond politics for the Presidential election,” he said.