Bhubaneswar: In an official confirmation of BJD support for Droupadi Murmu, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is currently in Rome, appealed to all the members of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, cutting across party lines, to extend unanimous support to elect the daughter of the state, Droupadi Murmu, to the country’s highest office.
This came a day after, Naveen extended his support to Murmu and said that he was delighted when Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed this with him. “It is indeed a proud moment for Odisha. I am sure Smt Murmu will set a shining example for women empowerment in the country,” he added.
With this, the BJD has become the first non-NDA party to announce support for Murmu, who is pitted against Yashwant Sinha, the presidential candidate of the Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party.
There are 112 BJD members in the Odisha Assembly, 23 of BJP and nine of Congress.
Responding to an appeal by senior BJD leader and Parliamentarian Bhartruhari Mahtab to all MPs and MLAs from Odisha to unitedly vote for her and ensure her victory in the Presidential polls, Congress MLA Suresh Routray earlier told the media that though he was extremely happy at Murmu’s nomination, he cannot vote in her favour in the polls.
If any MLA of the grand old party in Odisha decides to vote for Murmu, it will come as a jolt for the Congress and Mamata Banerjee’s efforts to unify the opposition against the Narendra Modi-led government.
Notably, all nine Congress MLAs from Odisha are currently in Delhi to attend a key party meeting.
Also Read: All Nine Cong MLAs From Odisha Called To Delhi; Know Why
On the other hand, the BJD’s support for Murmu has almost ensured that she will achieve 50 per cent of the first preference votes of the electoral college required to become the next President. The NDA has around 48 per cent of the votes while the BJD has 2.85 per cent of the votes.
Once elected, Murmu will become the first Odia and first tribal and the second woman, after Pratibha Patil, to occupy the highest constitutional post.
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