Prez polls
'Not narrow-minded': Uddhav Thackeray to support Droupadi Murmu in Presidential polls
Mumbai/IBNS: Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday announced that the Shiv Sena led by him will support BJP-led NDA's candidate Droupadi Murmu in the Presidential polls on July 18.
The decision comes a day after 16 of the party's 22 MPs told Thackeray to support her "because she is a woman from a tribal community".
"Tribal leaders of my party told me that this is the first time a tribal woman has a chance to become President of India," he said, insisting, “Nobody pressured me in the meeting of Sena MPs."
“Actually, going by the present political atmosphere, I should not have backed her," he said, "But we are not narrow-minded."
This comes amid reports that Thackeray appears to have given in to the pressure within his Sena which has been already deserted by several MLAs after Eknath Shinde broke away last month and replaced him as Chief Minister of Maharashtra with the BJP's support.
With the growing support and the numbers that NDA has, Murmu will become the first tribal woman to be the President if elected.
Team Thackeray's Sanjay Raut had, however, said that supporting Murmu would "not mean supporting BJP".
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