Amid reports of Shiv Sena backing NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming Presidential elections, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Tuesday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party hasn't extended its support to anyone yet.
"Till now, Shiv Sena hasn't extended its support to anyone regarding the Presidential elections. It is yet to make the final decision," Bhujbal said while interacting with media.
"It is clear that Shiv Sena is definitely working towards strengthening the party. When such a large number of people leave the party, then efforts have to be made at the ground level and Uddhav Thackeray is doing so," Bhujbal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, after the Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray called a meeting on July 11, party leader Sanjay Raut earlier today confirmed that there were discussions about Murmu at the meeting and said that supporting Murmu does not mean supporting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"We discussed Droupadi Murmu (NDA's Presidential candidate) in our meeting yesterday. Supporting Droupadi Murmu does not mean supporting BJP. Shiv Sena's role will be clear in a day or two; party chief Uddhav Thackeray will make a decision," Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut.
He also highlighted that the party had goodwill toward the opposition's Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha.
"The opposition should remain alive. We also have goodwill towards the Opposition's Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha. Earlier we supported Pratibha Patil and not the NDA candidate. We supported Pranab Mukherjee also. Shiv Sena does not take decisions under pressure," he added.
Yesterday, most of the Sena MPs made a strong case for supporting Droupadi Murmu and not for Yashwant Sinha, the opposition’s nominee.
The voting for the presidential election will take place on July 18 and the counting of votes will take place on July 21. While Droupadi Murmu is the presidential candidate of the BJP-led NDA, Yashwant Sinha is the candidate of the opposition parties.
(with agency inputs)
