Anger With Cong, Politically Correct Stand & National Ambition: Why Andhra United to Elect Murmu as Prez
By: Rohini Swamy
Last Updated: July 22, 2022, 15:55 IST
Andhra Pradesh, India
Murmu, a tribal leader from neighbouring Odisha, held meetings with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, MPs and MLAs, while TDP leader Naidu flew to Vijayawada to meet her. (PTI)
Senior YSRCP MLA Gadikota Srikanth Reddy told News18 that PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah reached out to Jagan Mohan Reddy, seeking his support to elect the tribal leader as it would bode well for the country
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Even though the BJP has no presence in Andhra Pradesh, President-elect Draupadi Murmu polled a 100 per cent votes from the southern state with both ruling YSR Congress and Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP backing her in view of her social background.
Murmu, a tribal leader from neighbouring Odisha, held meetings with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, MPs and MLAs, while TDP leader Naidu flew to Vijayawada to meet her.
In Andhra Pradesh, the YSRC has 151 MLAs, 22 MPs in the Lok Sabha and nine in the Rajya Sabha, while the TDP has 18 MLAs, three Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP.
Explaining how the YSR Congress, in one voice, voted for India's youngest and first tribal President, senior MLA and party spokesperson Gadikota Srikanth Reddy told News18 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah reached out to Jagan Mohan Reddy, seeking his support to elect the tribal leader as it would bode well for the country.
"We supported her not as a candidate of the BJP but to give a chance to a woman president from a backward region. Having said that, we can't support the Congress after the way they treated our leader Jagan gaaru. The Congress launched an ED investigation against him to malign him. After all this, we cannot support the Congress," he said.
Leaving no opportunity to take a dig at Naidu, the YSR Congress leader added that while his party was united in whom to vote for in the presidential elections, he did not understand how TDP and Naidu decided to support Murmu, especially after he cried foul and claimed betrayal by the BJP in 2019.
"I don't how Chandrababu Naidu supported Murmu as he is the most confused person we know. Before the elections in 2019, he called himself a national leader. After the elections, we have not seen him support the opposition Congress in any of their decisions and now his entire party has once again supported Murmu. It shows how desperate the TDP is to remain relevant," he added.
According to the reasoning of the TDP, the party voted enmasse in support of Murmu as it felt that by remaining neutral, it would not achieve anything and hence, they sided with a tribal woman leader without considering which party's candidate she was.
"It was based purely on political consideration as we were not willing to support Yashwant Sinha," said a senior TDP leader who wanted to maintain anonymity. "We don't have any need to go against the BJP. Our issue was with PM Modi who did not deliver what was promised to us in terms of special packages and special status. What happened in 2019 is a thing of the past," the leader said.
He also expressed his disagreement with Naidu's decision to support Rahul Gandhi in 2019 and called it politically incorrect. "We have always been an anti-Congress party and suddenly aligning with it sent a wrong signal. By supporting Yashwant Sinha, we would not have got anything and by staying neutral, we would not have achieved anything nationally."
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