Ignored by Opposition, Mayawati supports Murmu for President

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has put her weight behind NDA Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu while accusing the Opposition of ignoring her while shortlisting Yashwant Sinha’s name for elections to the prestigious post.

The Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh said that she is not supporting the NDA or the BJP but endorsing Murmu’s name “keeping BSP’s movement in mind”. She was speaking at a press conference in Lucknow on Saturday (June 25).

The presidential polls will be held on July 18. The BJP seems to have the numbers to get its nominee, Droupadi Murmu, elected as the President of India. If elected, Murmu will be the first tribal leader and the second woman to occupy the position of President.

Mayawati said Murmu is a woman and a tribal, which were the reasons the BSP stands by her candidature. She also took the opposition head on for not consulting her while deciding the joint candidate. “These opposition parties have time and again wrongly called BSP the ‘B’ team of the BJP. This negative publicity has harmed our party’s reputation and caused our defeat in the just concluded UP elections,” Mayawati said.

The NDA has picked Droupadi Murmu from Jharkhand as its presidential nominee while the opposition led by the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left and others nominated former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha for the coveted post.