A day after the Congress in Odisha announced that it would not support NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu for the presidential elections, the state unit of the BJP described the grand old party as “anti-tribal”.
BJP state president Samir Mohanty alleged that the Congress, which had seized power at the Centre with the support of tribal people, will now “oppose one of their representatives”.
Maintaining that the nomination of a tribal woman from Odisha for the topmost Constitutional post is matter of great pride, Mohanty said, “Instead of rejoicing at Murmu’s success, senior Congress leaders of the state have said that they would not vote in favour of Odia daughter, just to toe party line.”
The party probably does not have the best interests of tribals in mind, he added. Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra had on Thursday said that the party MLAs in Odisha Assembly will not support Murmu “as she believes in the ideology of the BJP and the RSS, a member of which had killed Mahatma Gandhi”.
The Congress in Odisha has nine MLAs and one MP in Lok Sabha.
BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recently asked his party’s 114 MLAs and 21 MPs to vote for Murmu as she is the “daughter of the soil”.