Uddhav's Sena to back Murmu for President; does not mean supporting BJP, says Raut

The Shiv Sena core committee led by Uddhav Thackeray has decided to support NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming presidential election, party leader Sanjay Raut said while maintaining that this does not mean they are supporting the BJP.

The development comes a day after several Shiv Sena MPs, who attended a meeting convened by Uddhav Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai, “requested” him to support Murmu for President and open the door to a possible patch-up with the BJP and the breakaway Eknath Shinde faction, reports said. A total 16 MPs had said the party must extend support to Murmu.

Raut stresses on tribal roots

“Shiv Sena has decided to support Murmu for presidential election but this does not mean we are supporting BJP,” Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday.

Also read: Kirit Somaiya’s ‘mafia CM’ jibe at Uddhav has left Camp Shinde fuming

“The Shiv Sena does what it thinks is right. In the past also we have extended support to Congress nominee T N Seshan and UPA nominees like Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee. The Sena has the tradition of going beyond politics. We believe in backing people in the national interest,” Raut told the Indian Express.

“Droupadi Murmu is the first tribal woman likely to be the President of India. There is a lot of tribal population in Maharashtra. There are a lot of Shiv Sainiks who come from tribal areas. There are MLAs too,” said Raut.

16 Shiv Sena MPs for Murmu

The presidential elections are scheduled to be held on July 18. There is no whip for the presidential elections and MPs can vote as per their will. Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar told the media that 16 of the party’s MPs had agreed that the Sena should Murmu as she is a “woman belonging to the tribal community”.

“She is an NDA candidate but Droupadi Murmu belongs to the tribal community and is a woman. We should give her our support — this was the demand by all MPs (of the party). Uddhav ji told us that he will tell us his decision in a day or two,” Kirtikar said.

Sixteen out of the total 18 Lok Sabha MPs of the Sena physically attended the key meeting on the presidential elections and all agreed on supporting Murmu, Kiritkar said. “Out of 18 MPs, two were absent — Bhavana Gawali and Shrikant Shinde. All other MPs of the party were present in the meeting,” he added.

The Sena has 18 Lok Sabha MPs from Maharashtra and one, Kalaben Delkar, from Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Also read: Uddhav faction files reply in SC: ‘No better way to reward defection than with CM’s post’