New Delhi: West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put up posters across Bengal terming Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as "anti-tribal community". The posters, put up ahead of the presidential election on Monday, show National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Murmu belongs to the tribal community. The posters by BJP show CM Mamata Banerjee holding hands during a dance by members of the tribal community who are wearing gloves. The photo related to BJP leaders' prior accusation wherein it claimed that the Chief Minister insisted for 'Janajatiya' women to wear gloves in an event in Alipurduar district "so that she could hold their hand and pose for a picture", news agency ANI reported.
Droupadi Murmu's Chances Are Better: Mamata Banerjee
Earlier this month, the West Bengal Chief Minister had said that NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu's chances of winning the election are better because of developments in Maharashtra. "Now we know Droupadi Murmu's chances are better because of developments in Maharashtra. We'll go by what opposition parties say," she said. CM Mamata further stated that the opposition could have considered Murmu's name if the BJP had discussed it with them before announcing it. "BJP didn't discuss with us before announcing their candidate for Presidential elections. They should've taken our suggestions...then we could've considered," she added.
The BJP-led NDA declared Droupadi Murmu as the presidential candidate on June 21. She will face opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential contest on July 18.
Droupadi Murmu vs Yashwant Sinha
Meanwhile, West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar has urged the TMC MPs and MLAs to vote in favour of Murmu.
The parties that have extended their support to the NDA candidate include Congress ally Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), and RJD ally Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav has also extended his support to Droupadi Murmu.
Trinamool Congress and several other opposition parties have fielded former union minister Yashwant Sinha as their presidential candidate.
On Saturday, the Aam Aadmi Party announced that they will be supporting the Opposition's presidential candidate in the upcoming elections. The decision to back Sinha came after a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee held in the residence of the party's national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The counting of votes for the presidential election will take place on July 21.
Droupadi Murmu is a former Governor of Jharkhand and a former Odisha minister. If elected, she will be the first tribal President of India and the country's second female President.
(With Agency Inputs)