The Presidential nominee of the National Democratic Alliance, Droupadi Murmu, will visit Puducherry on Saturday to seek support from the Union Territory for her candidature.
Announcing her visit, the president of the local unit of the BJP, V. Saminathan, on Thursday said Ms. Murmu would arrive in Puducherry in a special aircraft from New Delhi.
She would attend a meeting of NDA leaders in Puducherry as part of her campaign.
Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, Ministers, legislators belonging to the AlNRC and the BJP, and three Independent legislators who had extended their support to the BJP in the Assembly would attend the meeting, Mr. Saminathan said. He did not comment on whether three other Independents, who had extended their support to the AINRC, would attend the meet.
Mr. Saminathan said the nomination of Ms. Murmu had sent a strong message that the BJP was committed to implementing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Viswas’. “When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, the BJP elected Abdul Kalam as the President. The current President, Ram Nath Kovind, hailing from the Dalit community, was elected to the highest office during Mr. Modi’s first tenure. Now, the party has nominated Ms. Murmu, who belongs to the ST community,” he noted.
“The Congress and the DMK only speak about social justice. It is the BJP which has taken decisions for the uplift of the marginalised sections of society, “ the BJP president said. “The DMK, which claims to be the champion of social justice, has no moral right to speak for the marginalised sections, since it decided to vote against Ms. Murmu. Several regional parties like the BJD have decided to vote for the NDA nominee. But the DMK has not,” he said. Minister for Home A. Namassivayam and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) S. Selvaganabathy were present at the press conference.
