Mayawati backs NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in presidential polls

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati is backing NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in the presidential polls. She said the BSP has identified the tribal community as a major part of its movement.

Droupadi Murmu is a tribal leader from Odisha and has served as the Governor of Jharkhand for five years. If elected, she will be India's first tribal and second woman president. She is the first female tribal leader from Odisha to be the governor of an Indian state.

Mayawati added that it was an independent decision for her and BSP to support Murmu because the Opposition has a casteist mindset against BSP. She disclosed that the Opposition did not consult her on their presidential pick Yashwant Sinha.

She added West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called only a few select parties for the first meeting. Noting that the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar also did not call the BSP for a discussion, Mayawati said the Opposition is only putting up a pretence of trying to form a consensus, reported NDTV.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said the BSP is the only national party whose leadership is with Dalits. "We do not follow the BJP or the Congress. We are not involved with industrialists."

She added that the BSP takes its decisions in the favour of the oppressed. "If a party decides in the favour of oppressed communities, we will support them irrespective of the consequences".

The presidential election is to be held on July 18 and the result will be out on July 21. Current President Ram Nath Kovind's term will end on July 24.