TDP to vote for NDA candidate Murmu

The opposition TDP had finally decided to support the NDA candidate for the Presidential elections. The party said it would vote for NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu in the presidential election.

The TDP took the decision at the party’s meeting held at the party state office in Mangalagiri on Monday. The TDP said that the party is committed to the concept of social justice right from its inception.

Chandrababu Naidu, in a statement said that the TDP had supported the candidatures of K R Narayanan and Abdul Kalam as the President candidates in the past. The party also did not field its candidate when Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao contested from Nandyal in the past. He further said that the TDP had made a Dalit leader, G M C Balayogi as the Speaker of Lok Sabha in the past.

The TDP has 4 MPs, three in Lok Sabha and one in Rajya Sabha, and 23 MLAs in its account who could vote in the election. The party has 6,457 votes in the electoral college of the Presidential election.

The TDP is one of the 16 parties from outside the NDA. The YSR Congress from Andhra Pradesh with 4.22 per cent votes (45,709 votes) is the largest party in the non-NDA parties list that have announced support to Draupadi Murmu.

Meanwhile, the NDA presidential candidate is all set to visit Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday to meet the YSR Congress MLAs. She would meet the MLAs along with Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at a function hall in Mangalagiri. Later, she would join the high tea hosted by the chief minister at his camp office.

Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, would accompany the NDA Presidential candidate during her visit to the State. However, it is not known yet whether she would also meet the TDP MLAs and MPs during her visit as the TDP also extended its support to her.