In a meeting called by Uddhav Thackeray on Monday, 16 MPs said the party must extend its support to the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. The presidential elections are scheduled to be held on July 18, and there is no whip for the presidential elections and MPs can vote as per their will. Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar told the media that 16 of the party’s MPs had agreed that the Sena should Murmu as she is a “woman belonging to the tribal community”.
“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 out of the total 18 Lok Sabha MPs of the Sena physically attended the key meeting on the presidential elections and all agreed on supporting Murmu, Kiritkar said. “Out of 18 MPs, two were absent — Bhavana Gawali and Shrikant Shinde. All other MPs of the party were present in the meeting,” he added.
Kirtikar further said the party had supported UPA candidates in the past — Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee. He added that Uddhav will announce his support for Murmu as she was a tribal woman, and it was important to see beyond politics for the 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 Presidential election,” Kirtikar said.
Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the meeting was held at ‘Matoshree’, but did not provide any other details.
Besides 18 Lok Sabha members in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena also has its MP, Kalaben Delkar, in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
(With PTI inputs)
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