Bhubaneswar: Amid ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s call to support ‘daughter of Odisha’ Droupadi Murmu, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak on Saturday informed that the party will vote for joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the July 18 presidential election.
After returning from Delhi, Sarat met with the legislators of the party and informed them about the High Command’s decision. “We are a democratic country and they requested us to vote for Murmu, but we will go by the party stand on the issue and vote for Sinha,” he said.
Ganeswar Behera and Santosh Singh Saluja have been appointed as the party’s agents for the presidential poll, he added.
Sinha is the consensus choice of 13 opposition parties, including the Congress, NCP, TMC, CPI, CPI-M, Samajwadi Party, National Conference, AIMIM, RJD, and AIUDF.
Naveen had earlier appealed to all the members of the Odisha assembly, across all parties, to extend unanimous support to elect Murmu to the highest office in the country.
