Droupadi Murmu arrives in Tripura to seek support for presidential election

Agartala, July 5 (PTI): NDA presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu arrived here on Tuesday to seek support for the July 18 election and will meet MPs and legislators of ruling BJP and its ally IPFT, Tripura Assembly Speaker Ratan Chakraborty said.

Murmu, a former Governor of Jharkhand, was accorded a rousing welcome at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airpor here as artistes performed traditional dance.

Chief Minister Manik Saha, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Verma and Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik welcomed Murmu at the airport.

“Draupodi Murmu, the NDA presidential candidate, arrived here as part of her campaign for the election. She will have a meeting with MPs and MLAs belonging to the BJP and the IPFT in a city hotel to seek votes for her,” the Speaker said.

The BJP has 36 MLAs in the 60-member state Assembly, while the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura has a strength of eight legislators, including Brishketu Debbarma who has tendered his resignation that has not been accepted by the Speaker till now.

The opposition CPI (M) has 15 MLA and the Congress has only one legislator.

The saffron party has two Lok Sabha MPs, while Rajya Sabha seat from the northeastern state fell vacant after Chief Minister Manik Saha had on Monday tendered his resignation from the Upper House of Parliament.

Several major opposition parties, including the Congress, the NCP and the TMC, fielded former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as their candidate for the upcoming presidential poll.