The ruling NDA and the opposition both declared their nominees for the upcoming presidential polls in July, with the BJP’s parliamentary board nominating former Jharkhand governor Droupadi Murmu, who hails from Odisha and will be the first Tribal woman to be President of India. The Opposition declared former finance minister Yashwant Sinha as its candidate.
The BJP called a meeting of its parliamentary board, of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a member, late on Tuesday evening and after a meetings lasting a little over an hour declared Ms Murmu’s name as candidate. Other members of the Parliamentary Board, the BJP’s highest decision making body, include Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh.
BJP president J P Nadda said that while a consensus candidate for the post of president was always desirable it did not materialise. “Both defence minister Rajnath Singh and I spoke to leaders of the various parties including the UPA, but a commonality was not emerging. Therefore we decided to field a common NDA candidate for the post of president of India,” he said.
