Just two days before the Presidential Elections, Prakash Ambedkar, National President of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi and grandson of Babasaheb Ambedkar on Saturday made a request to Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from the race against NDA's Droupadi Murmu.
The Presidential poll is scheduled to be held on July 18 as the tenure of President Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24.
Asking Sinha to back out from the race, Ambedkar said that many Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members from across the parties are joining to vote in favour of Droupadi Murmu.
"Requesting Yashwant Sinha to withdraw from the Presidential race because many Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members from across the parties are joining to vote in favour of Droupadi Murmu," Prakash Ambedkar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, Yashwant Sinha cancelled his visit to Mumbai scheduled today in the wake of the Shiv Sena announcing support for NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu.
"Sinha's visit to Mumbai, where he was scheduled to meet and address the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) legislators, has been cancelled," an NCP leader said.
The visit has been cancelled because Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray has announced his party's support to Murmu, he added.
On Tuesday, Thackeray had announced that his party would support Murmu, saying that this is the first occasion wherein a tribal woman is getting the opportunity to become the President. He had said that several party leaders, especially from the tribal community like MLC Aamshya Padvi, former MLA Nirmala Gavit, and Eklavya Sanghtana's Shivajirao Dhavale had urged him to back Murmu, although there was no pressure on him.
After getting the support of some regional parties like BJD, YSR-CP, BSP, AIADMK, TDP, JDS, Shiromani Akali Dal and Shiv Sena, the vote share of Murmu has already crossed 60 per cent. It was around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
Murmu had visited Mumbai on Thursday as part of her poll campaign, and met the BJP MLAs and MPs from Maharashtra as well as the legislators of its allies including the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde.
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
