Congress, other opposition parties should support nation's 'pride' Murmu: Giriraj Singh

BJP leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh on Wednesday urged Congress president Sonia Gandhi to back the ruling NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu for the presidential poll, saying there cannot be a bigger example of empowerment of women and Scheduled Tribes than the Odisha leader holding the top constitutional post.

Speaking to reporters here, Singh said opposition parties, which have fielded former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as their joint candidate for the poll, should reconsider their decision as politics in everything is not good.

Noting that Murmu is the first tribal women candidate for the post in 75 years since independence, he said she is now India's ''pride''.

''The Congress too should support her. Every opposition party should support her,'' he said.

Singh noted that the BJP-led NDA had earlier named Ram Nath Kovind, who came from Dalit community and went on to win the presidential poll in 2017, and asserted that the ruling alliance has again sent out a message for the empowerment of deprived communities with Murmu's candidature.

Murmu (64), a former Jharkhand governor, will be the first person from Odisha and the first tribal to occupy the top constitutional post if she is elected, a strong possibility as numbers are stacked in the NDA's favour.