Could have backed Droupadi Murmu had NDA kept us in loop: Mamata Banerjee

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, July 1

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Friday created a flutter when she said opposition parties might have considered backing NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu had the BJP held a discussion with them before fielding her.

Interestingly, it was Mamata who had taken the initiative of putting up former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha as the common candidate of non-BJP parties. After Sharad Pawar and Farooq Abdullah refused to enter the fray, the name of Gopal Gandhi was proposed by her.

However, when Gandhi too turned down the offer, Mamata had proposed her party colleague Yashwant Sinha’s name. Sinha gave up his TMC membership before filing the nomination as the joint candidate of opposition parties, including the Congress. Incidentally, Mamata was not present when Sinha filed his papers.

Taking a U-turn, Mamata today said Murmu had better chances to win the July 18 presidential election, with the NDA’s numbers strengthened after the change of guard in Maharashtra. Didi also stressed that “a consensus candidate is always better for the country”.

“The BJP’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu has better chances (to win presidential polls) because of Maharashtra development. If the BJP had got in touch with us before announcing the name of Murmu, we could have considered it too, bearing greater interests in mind,” Mamata told reporters on the sidelines of a Rath Yatra programme in Kolkata today.

She, however, said she “will go by what the opposition parties decide”.