PM Modi’s Murmu play upsets NCP-Shiv Sena applecart

Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nomination of former Governor of Jharkhand, Draupadi Murmu to the post of India’s next president has compelled former ally-turned-foe Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) to toe the BJP’s line and also upset the political applecart of Nationalist Congress Party Chief Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra.

While the united opposition political formation (including 17 political parties) had backed the candidature of former BJP leader Yeshwant Sinha as their nominee for the Presidential elections scheduled on July 18, 2022, Murmu’s candidature took the wind out of the opposition sails. Even Trinamool Congress Chief Mamta Bannerjee was forced to backtrack. and was the first to state that she would have positively considered the BJP nominee had the BJP announced Murmu’s candidature earlier.

According to a BJP source, “Modi was always considering a woman to head the Indian Republic and finalized the nomination of Murmu, a tribal leader who completed a full five-year tenure as Governor of Jharkhand, keeping in mind caste dynamics to ensure the last denominator in the Indian polity was given representation to the topmost post.”

First India had reported on these aspects in its June 16, 2022 issue and reported that the next BJP Presidential nominee would be a - hardcore party person with a polite personality, probably a woman like anandiben Patel who can add value to the post.

The clean image and intelligence quotient of the nominee and the caste analysis along with sheer dedication to the BJP ideology will be the qualifying aspects of the nominee. Draupadi Murmu has fulfilled all these criteria.
More importantly, Modi has also dealt a severe blow to the opposition formations particularly, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar who was a signatory to Sinha’s candidature. The BJP’s ally-turned-foe Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray led faction) on Tuesday announced it would back Murmu’s candidature raising questions about the future of the MVA alliance in Maharashtra that has ruled over the state for the last two-and-a-half years.
Uddhav Thackeray felt politically compelled to back the BJP nominee, despite having lost over 42 MLAs who were poached by the BJP in a political development that toppled the MVA government in the state, after a majority of Sena MPs urged their Chief to support Murmu.