New Delhi
The Narendra Modi government is all set to give India its first President from the scheduled tribes as it announced the name of Draupadi Murmu, the former Governor of Jharkhand, as the NDA’s joint candidate for the next month's election.
BJP President J P Nadda made this announcement late evening.
He said the government and the party had tried to hold negotiations with the opposition for evolving a consensus on the name of the next
President but didn’t succeed.
Finally, hours after the UPA announced its candidate (Yashwant Sinha) for the Presidential elections, the BJP parliamentary party held a meeting and chose the 62-year-old Murmu as the NDA's Presidential candidate.
He said Draupadi Murmu’s name was finalized from among 20 shortlisted candidates as she "belongs to eastern India and is a woman.
“It’s for the first time that BJP will field a member of the scheduled tribes as Presidential candidate,” Nadda said.
Draupadi Murmu is from Santal tribe of Odisha. She was born on 20 June 1958 in Baidaposi village of Mayurbani district Tudu.
Nadda said she began her career as a teacher and rose to become a minister in the Odisha government. She is presently the Governor of Jharkhand.
