Droupadi Murmu arrives in Maharashtra, meets MPs and MLAs, Shinde faction
Murmu, who arrived in Mumbai on Thursday held a meeting with BJP and Shinde camp leaders and elected members of the state legislative assembly and members of the Parliament.
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NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu in Mumbai on Thursday evening. (Express photo by Pradip Das)The NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on Thursday visited Mumbai and interacted with MLAs and MPs from the BJP, the Eknath Shinde faction and other allies. Murmu, however, refrained from reaching out to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in an apparent snub to the leader, who on Monday decided to extend support to the NDA presidential candidate.
Historically, Presidential candidates have visited Matoshree to meet members of the Thackeray clan and solicit their support for their candidature. However, with the fallout between the BJP and Uddhav Thackeray, the practice has been discontinued even though Thackeray bowing to pressure from a section of Shiv Sena MPs unilaterally announced his support to Murmu much to the chagrin of parties like the Congress and NCP with whom it was a constituent in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.
“As far as I know in the itinerary of Murmu the visit (at Matoshree) was not scheduled,” Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said when asked if she would be meeting Thackeray.
Earlier, the Shiv Sena had extended its support to Congress candidates Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee as presidential candidates. Senior Congress leaders had visited Matoshree to thank Thackerays, and Patil and Mukherjee also visited Matoshree to meet Thackerays.
This time, however, even after extending the support, neither any BJP leader nor Murmu visited Matoshree till Thursday.
A senior Sena leader said, “Uddhav Thackeray showed a large heart by extending support to Murmu considering that a tribal woman should get an opportunity to be at the top position of the country and kept party politics aside. The presidential candidate should have paid the courtesy visit.”
Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said, “We have extended support considering the national interest. it is on them whether they wish to visit or not. We got orders from Shiv Sena Uddhav Ji Thackeray and we will follow the same.”
Murmu, who arrived in Mumbai on Thursday held a meeting with BJP and Shinde camp leaders and elected members of the state legislative assembly and members of the Parliament. She interacted with the members.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Narayan Rane, Ramdas Athavale, Piyush Goyal, Bharati Pawar, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, National BJP General Secretary and in charge of Maharashtra C T RAVI and Mumbai BJP chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha were present along with MPs and MLAs.
Expressing her salutations to Maharashtra as “pavitra bhoomi” (sacred land) in the Marathi language, Murmu said, “This is the state, which had given a proud leader and thinker like Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar to the country. Maharashtra has made huge progress in all sectors be it industry, education, agriculture or commerce. I am grateful to all the MLAs, and MPs from Maharashtra for their support of my candidature for the Presidential poll.”
The Presidential elections are scheduled to be held on July 18. While Murmu is the NDA candidate, opposition parties have fielded former BJP minister Yashwant Sinha.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the opportunity to a woman, who hails from ordinary background to rise to the highest position. We express our gratitude to the PM. And are confident that Murmu will get record votes from Maharashtra.”
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “A tribal woman becoming President of India in the 75th year of Independence is indeed a proud moment. In Murmu the country will have its first woman tribal President. It marks the beginning of new India.”
Earlier, Tawde introduced Murmu to members of the BJP and Shinde camp. The state BJP welcomed her with traditional Maharashtra tribal dance and music.
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