 "Andhra CM Reddy backs NDA's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu")
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday extended support to NDA presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu, who will be the first tribal woman to hold the position if she wins.
CM Jagan believes that it falls in line with the emphasis he has always given to the representation of the SC, ST, BC, and minority communities, according to an official statement by the state government.
In the last three years, Jagan has given great importance to the upliftment of these communities and even ensured they were represented well in the cabinet, with them being the lion's share of 70 percent.
However, the CM will not be able to attend the filing of nominations by Draupadi Murmu due to the previously scheduled cabinet meeting. Instead, Rajya Sabha member and party parliamentary affairs leaders Vijaysai Reddy and Lok Sabha member Midhun Reddy to be in attendance, it added.
Earlier in the day, Murmu reached Delhi and had meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP National President JP Nadda. Elections for the presidential post will take place on July 18.
Droupadi Murmu will file her nomination papers on Friday.
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She 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.
Coming from a poor tribal family in the 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.
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.
In 2007, the Odisha assembly honoured her with the 'Nilakantha Award' for best MLA. She served as a junior assistant in Irrigation and Power Department between 1979 and 1983. She has held several organisational posts in BJP and was vice president of state ST Morcha in 1997.
Droupadi Murmu was a national executive member of BJP's ST Morcha from 2013 to 2015 and served as BJP district chief of Mayurbhanj (West) in 2010 and 2013. Between 2006 and 2009, she was chief of BJP's ST Morcha in Odisha. She was a member of the national executive of BJP ST Morcha from 2002 to 2009.
The voting for the next President of India will kick start on July 18 while counting will take place on July 21.