Former Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha, has been chosen as the NDA’s Presidential nominee for the July 18 elections. She will be pitted against joint Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, a Cabinet Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.
If elected, Murmu, 64, will be the first tribal woman and second female to occupy the top constitutional office in the country’s history — a strong possibility as numbers are stacked in the favour of the BJP-led NDA.
Sinha, was declared as the joint Opposition’s candidate at a meeting convened by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. Sinha resigned from the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday.
Murmu’s name was announced by BJP president JP Nadda after party’s Parliamentary Board meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Besides, Modi, Nadda, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan participated in the meeting.
Nadda said that BJP parliamentary board discussed 20 names for presidential nominee, it was decided to pick someone from east India, a tribal and woman.
Soon after Modi tweeted, “Droupadi Murmu has devoted her life to serving society and empowering the poor, downtrodden as well as the marginalised. She has rich administrative experience and had an outstanding gubernatorial tenure. I am confident she will be a great President of our nation,” he said.
Nadda said that the BJP is trying to build a consensus among all the parties.
“After Opposition parties announced their candidate, the BJP, after talking to all the NDA allies, decided to field Murmu as its Presidential candidate. Detailed discussions were held on 20 names and a consensus was built that someone from the east and from the tribal community must be made the President of India. After discussions, the Parliamentary Board decided to name Draupadi Murmu as the Presidential candidate,” said BJP president.
June 29 is the last date for filing nomination for the Presidential poll, while voting will take place on July 18. The counting of votes will take place on July 21.
Incidentally, she was also considered as BJP candidate for the last presidential poll before Ram Nath Kovind was nominated as the NDA’s choice.
Hailing from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district and coming from a tribal community, Murmu started out as a teacher and then entered into Odisha politics.
She became MLA twice on BJP ticket from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj (2000 and 2009).
By nominating her, the BJP seeks to boost its electoral turf vis-a-vis Odisga Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who has held his ground in the State for five times and still going strong.
Before Murmu came to prominence, in her modest beginning, she was elected as the councillor of Rairangpur Nagar Panchayat in 1997.
After serving as vice-president of BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha, she was elected as a legislator from the Rairangpur constituency in 2000. During the BJD and BJP coalition Government in Odisha, she served as a minister in Commerce and Transport and subsequently Fisheries and Animal Resources department between 2000 and 2004. In 2015, Murmu was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand.
Her political life has been beset with personal tragedies. She has lost her husband Shyam Charan Murmu and two sons.
Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar claimed to have support from the AAP, the TRS, the SP, the RJD, the Shiv Sena, and the National Conference. Sources said the team Opposition will also seek support from BJD leader and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in this regard.
Briefing the media after announcing Sinha’s candidature, Pawar said he has spoken to a cross-section of leaders from various parties which included Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal from the AAP and Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao from the TRS. KCR was not present in the meeting, though.
Pawar said he also spoke to TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as well as Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Tejashwi Yadav (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference) and Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena). They all supported Sinha’s candidature, he said.
“I am grateful to Mamata for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC. Now the time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater Opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step,” Sinha tweeted.
The parties that attended the meeting included the Congress, the NCP, the TMC, the CPI, the CPI(M), the Samajwadi Party, the National Conference, the AIMIM, the RJD and the AIUDF. Five regional parties considered non-aligned — TRS, BJD. AAP, SAD and YSRCP — stayed away. These parties had also stayed away from the June 15 meeting convened by Mamata. “We will also try to convince the BJD and the YSR Congress,” Pawar said when asked whether they are on board.Opposition leaders, who gathered at the Parliament annexe for the meeting convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar to decide on a common candidate for the Presidential election, unanimously agreed on Sinha’s name. Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D Raja, RJD’s Manoj Jha, VCK’s Thol Thirumavalavan, NC’s Hasnain Masoodi, RSP’s NK Premchandran and AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel were among those who participated in the meeting.
The veteran politician will file his nomination papers on June 27. “We regret the Modi Government made no serious effort to have consensus on a presidential candidate,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who read out a joint statement after the meeting, said.
He noted that the initiative to have a consensus candidate for the highest office of the Republic should have been taken by the government.