New Delhi: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday (July 12, 2022) announced that his party will support NDA's Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. The announcement by the former Maharashtra chief minister has come as a setback for the opposition camp, which has fielded Yashwant Sinha, as the vote share of parties who have now extended support to Murmu for the July 18 Presidential elections has crossed 60 per cent. 


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Thackeray said that the Shiv Sena is announcing support for Murmu "without any pressure". His ally Congress, however, said that the Shiv Sena's decision was "unfathomable".


"The Shiv Sena is a part of Maha Vikas Aghadi, but it has not discussed its decision with us. It is unfathomable why the party is supporting Murmu when its government (in Maharashtra) was brought down in a non-democratic way," senior Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said in a statement. 



Nobody pressured me: Uddhav Thackeray after announcing support to Draupadi Murmu


Thackeray, while acknowledging that this is the first occasion wherein a tribal woman, referring to Draupadi Murmu, is getting the opportunity to become the President, had said, "Actually going by the present political atmosphere, I should not have backed her (Murmu) because she is a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But we are not narrow-minded."


"Nobody pressured me in the meeting of Sena MPs," he said, referring to the meeting of Sena MPs held at his residence in Mumbai a day earlier.


Draupadi Murmu set to be next President? Her vote share crosses 60 per cent


After getting the support of some regional parties like the BJD, YSR Congress, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal and now Shiv Sena, the vote share of Draupadi Murmu has crossed 60 per cent. It was around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination on June 24.


Major non-BJP parties like the Congress, TMC, and NCP have named Yashwant Sinha, a former union minister, as the joint nominee for the presidential elections.