LUCKNOW: Senior Congress leader and head of Kalki Ashram Acharya Pramod Krishnam on Thursday advocated the support to NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in upcoming Presidential polls on July 18.
Taking to the Twitter on Wednesday night, Acharya Pramod Krishnam aired his views contrary to the Congress party line. The leader even went a step further suggesting the party high command to review its decision over the support to the presidential candidate.
He posted: Since the times of Pundit Moti Lal Nehru, the Congress has always stood by the exploited, deprived and tribals. In my opinion, opposing a woman, coming from tribal community, in the presidential election is not appropriate. Party high command should rethink over it.”
The opinion of Acharya Krishnam, who is one of the front runners in the race to the post of UP Congress Committee (UPCC) chief, assumes significance as the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi had convened a meeting of senior Congress leaders at her residence to discuss party’s stance in presidential election besides other issues.
Earlier, reacting to the grand welcome extended to Opposition’s presidential candidate and former minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, Yashwant Sinha by senior Congress leader Kamalnath at his residence in Bhopal on Wednesday morning, Acharya Krishnam had posted a critical tweet saying: “Look what a situation has arrived. They could have, at least, fielded a Congressman.”
Even before this, Acharya Pramod Krishnam had been making statements contradictory to Congress’s official stand. On 12 July, when Yashwant Sinha was in Lucknow and had said that if elected as the President, he would act as the custodian of the Constitution preventing the government from doing anything such thing which could hurt and harm the democratic values of the country– such as toppling the elected state governments, Acharya Krishnam had tagged Sinha’s statement and tweeted: Na nau man tel hoga, na Radha Nachengi (It will never happen as Sinha will not win).
Even earlier also, Acharya Pramod Krishnam and Congress Communication head Jairam Ramesh had been seen sparring over various issues like Udaipur killing and Maharashtra political crisis.
In the aftermath of the beheading of Tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udiapur, Krishnam had responded to a tweet by Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot condemning the incident by asking why the victim was not provided security despite receiving life threats.
“Along side the killers, the police and administration are equally responsible. Why has there not been any action against SSP, DIG till now? Is the government’s authority totally finished in Rajasthan?” Krishnam had asked through a twitter post.
To this Jairam Ramesh had suggested him to think before crossing the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ (the line of caution). Even Acharya had exhorted Uddhav Thackrey to quit power when his government had
plunged into crisis. To this, Ramesh had come out to clarify that it was neither the stand of Congress party nor was Pramod Krishnam party’s authorised spokesman.