New Delhi, June 21 (Agency)
Former Jharkhand governor and tribal leader Draupadi Murmu will be the BJP-led NDA candidate in the upcoming presidential election. On the other hand, former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha will be the opposition candidate.
Murmu’s name was announced by party president JP Nadda on Tuesday after a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other members of the Parliamentary Board attended the Parliamentary Board meeting.
Addressing reporters after the meeting, Nadda said 20 names were discussed in the Parliamentary Board meeting regarding the presidential candidate and it was finally agreed that NDA should be selected from the eastern region of the country for this constitutional post. A woman should be nominated. He said that since till date no tribal has come as president, the NDA has decided to field Draupadi Murmu as its candidate. Nadda said that Rajnath Singh and he were authorized by the party to form a consensus among various parties regarding the candidate in the presidential election. “We wanted to go ahead by talking to all the parties and building a consensus for the election of the President,” he said. Rajnath Singh held talks with the leaders of the constituent parties of United Progressive Alliance (UPA). I talked too. But it didn’t work out. The BJP president said, “We wanted that the candidate should be unanimous in the presidential election, but the UPA has declared its candidate in the presidential election.” If Murmu wins in this election, then she will be the first tribal woman president of the country. The term of current President Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24.
Journey started with councilor and BJP district president
Born on June 20, 1958 in Mayurbhanj, Odisha, Murmu won the councilor’s election in Rairangpur, Odisha in the year 1997. In the same year she was made the vice-president of Rairangpur Municipal Council. In the year 2000, she won the assembly elections and got the responsibility of departments like transport and commerce. In the year 2002, the Government of Odisha gave him the Department of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry. She remained as BJP District President in Mayurbhanj till the year 2009. Even later, he was given the responsibility of this post twice. After this she was made the president of Odisha BJP ST Morcha. In the year 2015, she was made the Governor of Jharkhand. She has been the Governor of Jharkhand in this post for six years and a month.
13 opposition parties agree on Sinha’s name
13 opposition parties including Congress, Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party have agreed to name former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha as the opposition candidate for the post of President. The announcement was made by opposition leaders who gathered at the Parliament House for a meeting called by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. Earlier, Yashwant Sinha announced his decision to quit the Trinamool Congress, saying he would now work for the broader national objective of greater opposition unity. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh read out a joint statement after the meeting that we have unanimously selected Yashwant Sinha as the candidate of the opposition parties for the presidential election. Jairam Ramesh appealed to the BJP and its allies to support Yashwant Sinha. With this, he said, ‘We regret that the Modi government did not make any serious effort to build a consensus about the presidential candidate.’ The unity of the opposition parties established for the presidential election will be further strengthened in the coming months, the statement said. Sinha’s name cropped up after Sharad Pawar, Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah declined offers to be the presidential candidate.
