President election Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy backs NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu

President election, Droupadi Murmu, Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, Jagan Mohan Reddy, NDA candidate Dr — Image Source : PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with NDAs Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, in New Delhi.

Highlights

Andhra CM backs NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu
YSRC has 9 members in RS, 22 in LS besides 151 members in AP assembly
Elections for the presidential post will take place on July 18

President election: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday extended support to NDA presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu, who will be the first tribal woman to hold the position if she wins. CM Jagan believes that it falls in line with the emphasis he has always given to the representation of the SC, ST, BC, and minority communities, according to an official statement by the state government. However, the CM will not be able to attend the filing of nominations by Draupadi Murmu due to the previously scheduled cabinet meeting. Instead, Rajya Sabha member and party parliamentary affairs leaders Vijaysai Reddy and Lok Sabha member Midhun Reddy to be in attendance, it added.

Earlier in the day, Murmu reached Delhi and had meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP National President JP Nadda. Elections for the presidential post will take place on July 18. The YSRC has nine members in Rajya Sabha and 22 in Lok Sabha besides 151 members in the AP Legislative Assembly.

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Droupadi Murmu will file her nomination papers today morning. The 64-year-old former Jharkhand governor, who has been the cynosure of attention since she was chosen for the post by the BJP-led NDA earlier this week, is expected to file her papers on Friday in the presence of top leaders, including from the BJD. PM Modi is tipped to be the first proposer. A host of senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers and functionaries from other parties supporting her bid, are also set to be among the proposers.

Her candidature was also endorsed by Meghalaya's ruling BJP-backed Meghalaya Democratic Alliance. A formal decision on the matter will be taken at a meeting of the coalition partners, a senior member said. Five Congress MLAs who were suspended for supporting the MDA are also likely to vote in favour of Murmu, who rose from being a councillor in Odisha to Jharkhand governor and now the woman most likely to be president of the country. According to the Akhil Bhartiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, an RSS affiliate, the NDA's decision to nominate Murmu, from the Santhal community, is historic .

In Delhi, befitting her status as the NDA's nominee for president, several Delhi BJP leaders, including state president Adesh Gupta, party MPs Manoj Tiwari and Ramesh Bidhuri, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, welcomed her at the airport.