Presidential election: J P Nadda speaks to Sonia Gandhi, Deve Gowda seeking support for Droupadi Murmu

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Friday spoke to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and HD Deve Gowda for unanimous support for the NDA's presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu in the upcoming election, according to sources.

Earlier today Droupadi Murmu spoke to leaders of Opposition parties including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) seeking the support of their parties for her candidature, said sources.

Murmu spoke with Congress interim-President Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

According to the sources, Mamata Banerjee did not make any commitment to Murmu but wished her all the best for the election.

Despite Yashwant Sinha being nominated as the presidential candidate of the joint opposition, Murmu sought the support of Opposition parties.

Meanwhile, Murmu filed her nomination papers at the Parliament Library Building in the national capital today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed her name for the nomination, which was seconded by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The second set of proposers were the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, the third proposers were MLAs and MPs from Himachal and Haryana and the fourth set were MLAs and MPs from Gujarat.PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda, Union ministers and BJP leaders Gen VK Singh (Retd), Bhupender Yadav and Giriraj Singh were present at the Parliament during her nomination filing.

The Chief Ministers of all BJP-ruled states including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assam Chief Minister and Himanta Biswa Sarma among others were present during her nomination filing.

Besides, the NDA partners, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leader V Vijayasai Reddy and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Tukuni Sahu, BJJD MP Dr Sasmit Patra and Jagannath Saraka also present.

Droupadi Murmu, who was declared BJP-led NDA's presidential candidate, is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister.

She will face opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential contest on July 18.

If elected, she will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second female President. Droupadi Murmu is the first presidential candidate from Odisha of a major political party or alliance.

She continues to break barriers and was the first woman governor of Jharkhand. She served as Jharkhand Governor from 2015 to 2021.

Born in a poor tribal family in a village of Mayurbhanj, a backward district in Odisha, Droupadi Murmu completed her studies despite challenging circumstances.
She taught at Shri Aurobindo Integral Education Centre, Rairangpur.

Born on June 20, 1958, she pursued BA at Ramadevi Women's College Bhubaneswar.

She started her political career as Rairangpur NAC vice-chairman. Droupadi Murmu was a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Rairangpur between 2000 and 2004.

As a minister, she held portfolios of Transport and Commerce, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries. She again served as MLA in the Odisha assembly from 2004 to 2009.

(ANI)