Mumbai, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will have to leave the opposition in the presidential election to keep his party’s MPs united. Lok Sabha MPs from his party have unanimously asked to support NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu. Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray had called a meeting of MPs at his residence. In this, 16 of the party’s 18 MPs participated and they expressed an opinion that the party should support Draupadi Murmu for the presidency as she is a tribal woman.
The MPs have left the final decision on party chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. They can take a decision on this in the next two days. The presidential election is to be held on July 18. This time NDA’s Draupadi Murmu is pitted against Yashwant Sinha of the opposition for the post of President. However, after the rebellion of Shiv Sena MLAs, there was talk of some party MPs rebelling and going with the BJP. But in the midst of this discussion, it is very important for 16 MPs to attend Uddhav Thackeray’s meeting.
If Shiv Sena supports Draupadi Murmu, then its ongoing tussle with the BJP may come to an end and there may be a sign of the tussle going away. After the meeting, MP Gajanan Kirtikar told that 16 MPs of Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha members of Shiv Sena were present during the meeting. Two MPs – Bhawna Gawli and Shrikant Shinde – were not present in the meeting. Bhawna Gawli is considered close to the rebel Shiv Sena leader and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and was recently removed from the post of the party’s chief whip. The other absentee MP Shrikant Shinde is the son of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chaturvedi attended the meeting held at Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence Matoshree. A total of 16 MPs, including the party’s new chief whip Rajan Vichare, Gajanan Kirtikar, Arvind Sawant, Vinayak Raut, participated in the Lok Sabha MPs. Kirtikar later told that in the meeting, 16 MPs supported the presidential candidate and said that Draupadi Murmu is a tribal woman. That’s why we should vote for him.
He said- Earlier also we have supported Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee on the issue of Marathi. After knowing the opinion of the MPs, Uddhav Thackeray said that he will take a decision on this issue in the next two-three days. Recently, Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale wrote a letter to Uddhav Thackeray, appealing to support Draupadi Murmu for the post of President.
