SHIV SENA TO SUPPORT DROUPADI MURMU: UDDHAV THACKERAY

Succumbing to the pressure of its MPs,Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday announced that the party will support NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. While announcing this, Uddhav said that going by the present political atmosphere, I should not have backed her. But we are not narrow minded.

The announcement came following Uddhav’s meeting with the party MPs on Monday. 16 of 19 MPs have asked Uddhav to support the BJP-backed NDA’s candidate Murmu for the presidential election.

Announcing this, Thackeray said, “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.”

Thackeray also clarified that the Sena is announcing support to Murmu without any pressure. Nobody pressured me in the meeting of Sena MPs.

Adding to the clarification, 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.

On the surface, Thackeray appears to have given in to the pressure within, because his Sena is already stunted after Eknath Shinde broke away last month and replaced him as Chief Minister of Maharashtra with the BJP’s support. But Murmu’s tribal identity is a factor. This is something that Uddhav latched on to.

If elected, which is all but done as the NDA has the numbers, Murmu will be the first tribal woman to be the President. That matters in Maharashtra, where nearly 10 per cent of the population is of Scheduled Tribes. And that’s been a vote bank for the Sena.

After getting the support of some regional parties like BJD, YSR-CP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal and now Shiv Sena, the vote-share of NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu has already crossed 60 per cent. It was around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.