BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD on Saturday maintained that the party’s support for the NDA Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu is based on three principles and called upon Congress to do so in the larger interest of Odisha. The BJD’s support of Murmu is based on the fact that she is the ‘daughter of the soil’ besides being the first tribal to be nominated as the Presidential candidate. Besides, supporting her will help BJD in further strengthening its cause of women’s empowerment.
Calling upon Congress MLAs to vote in favour of Murmu, Minister for Public Enterprises Ashok Chandra Panda said that the BJD’s support is based on some principles which should be considered by all political parties.
Stating that the BJD has approached all Congress MLAs of the State and a team of leaders from the party had visited the residence of the president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak, Panda said that it is now for them to decide. Panda said that if Murmu is likely to get support from neighbouring states (Jharkhand), the State Congress MLAs should also support her.
Meanwhile, sources in the Congress said that the united Opposition Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha is not likely to visit Odisha for his campaign. His scheduled visit to Odisha on July 6 was cancelled and after that, no new programme has been made.
In view of the growing pressure on the Congress MLAs to support Murmu, the OPCC president had announced that he will convene a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on July 15 to discuss the issue. Senior Congress MLA Suresh Routray had said that Murmu should get unanimous support from all political parties. However, Pattanayak had said that the Congress votes were intact.