New Delhi, July 16: The joint Opposition candidate for Presidential election Yashwant Sinha has cancelled his visit to Mumbai which was scheduled for Saturday.
The visit has been cancelled due to the flood situation in the state, said an official source of Yashwant Sinha camp.
However, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray announced on Tuesday that his party would support Draupadi Murmu, saying that this is the first occasion wherein a tribal woman is getting the opportunity to become the President. He had said that several party leaders, especially from the tribal community like MLC Aamshya Padvi, former MLA Nirmala Gavit, and Eklavya Sanghtana’s Shivajirao Dhavale had urged him to back Murmu, although there was no pressure on him.
The Shiv Sena has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha, three in Rajya Sabha and 55 MLAs. However, 40 of these legislators have now joined the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The ruling NDA candidate Murmu had visited Mumbai on Thursday as part of her poll campaign, and met the BJP MLAs and MPs from Maharashtra as well as the legislators of its allies, including the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde.
Meanwhile, the Aam Admi Party has announced to support Yashwant Sinha in the presidential election. “The party’s Political Affairs Committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and unanimously the Political Affairs Committee has decided that the party will support the opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha”, MP Sanjay Singh said on Saturday.
However, with the support of several regional parties like the BJD, the YSR-CP, the BSP, the AIADMK, and others, NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu’s vote share is likely to reach nearly two-thirds.
With IANS Inputs…
