Droupadi Murmu comfortably placed With support from JD(U) & BJD.

NDA presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu, who will file her nomination papers on June 24, is comfortably placed with JD(U), one of the key constituents of the alliance, and BJD extending support to her to become the first tribal to occupy the top constitutional post.Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, who is visiting the Vatican where he met the Pope, on Wednesday urged all elected lawmakers from the state to vote for Murmu. BJD sources said the party is likely to be present during the nomination process, while a party MP may also be a proposer.Chances of division in the NDA rank over the nomination of Droupadi Murmu as the presidential candidate were alsoruled out with Bihar CM and JDU leader Nitish Kumar’s endorsement on Wednesday.Nitish said PM Narendra Modi had called him on Tuesday to inform that Murmu was being made the NDA candidate for the President’s post. “Heartiest thanks to the PM for selecting a tribal woman who has proven her mettle as a minister in Odisha and also during her gubernatorial stint in Jharkhand,” the Bihar CM said.JDU has 21 MPs and 5 MLAs in three states — Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. With 16 members in the Lok Sabha, JDU is the largest ally of NDA at the Centre.Two prominent Dalit leaders from Bihar — former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan — also extended support to Murmu. Murmu is expected to be accompanied by the BJP brass, including PM Modi, while filing her nomination papers.

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