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Mumbai: All eyes are set on the decision of Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray who is expected to announce his decision on supporting the candidature of NDA’s presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu.
Thackeray’s yesterday’s meeting with his party MPs came after some of them wrote to him requesting to support Ms Murmu for the President’s post.
In the 2019 General Elections, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine had fought the polls together and had bagged 41 out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. However, after the state legislative assembly elections both the saffron parties severed ties after failing to reach an agreement on sharing the Chief Minister’s post for two and half years.
Now with the crucial Presidential election just around the corner, there is mounting pressure on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to support Ms Murmu for the coveted post of the President of India from the majority of his party MPs. This comes immediately after the party faced its worst-ever rebellion when 40 of its MLAs led by Eknath Shinde formed a separate faction and joined hands with the BJP to form a new government in the state.
Out of the total, 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, the BJP has 23 of them, followed by 18 with the Shiv Sena, four with the NCP and one each from the Congress, AIMIM, and an Independent MP.
Likewise, the number of MPs who are sent to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra is 19, which includes eight from the BJP, three from Shiv Sena, four from NCP, and three from the Congress and one from the Ramdas Athawale-led Republican Party of India.
The BJP which has come to power in Maharashtra recently by allying with the Eknath Shinde-led faction has the total support of 164 MLAs on the floor of the House, and in all likelihood, all these votes would go to Ms Murmu when the Presidential election will be held on July 18.
