Odisha Congress MLA says he will urge Sonia Gandhi to support Droupadi Murmu

Odisha Congress MLA and former minister Suresh Routray has also said that the UPA should withdraw the candidature of joint Opposition nominee, Yashwant Sinha, in the upcoming presidential election

Updated on: Jun 26, 2022, 10:22:37 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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The nomination of Droupadi Murmu as the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) presidential candidate may have triggered some sort of split in the Odisha Congress with a veteran party leader on Saturday announcing that he will urge party chief Sonia Gandhi to support Murmu and withdraw the candidature of joint Opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha.

Recently, chief minister Naveen Patnaik urged all MLAs of Odisha to support Droupadi Murmu in the upcoming presidential election calling her ‘daughter of the state’. (ANI)

Former minister and Congress MLA Suresh Routray said he will urge Sonia Gandhi to support Murmu as she is a tribal and hails from Odisha.

“As an Odia, I am happy for Murmu. She is an Odia tribal woman and has worked as MLA, minister and the governor of Jharkhand where she showed her caliber. I recently met her at the Odisha Bhawan and congratulated her. We (UPA) should withdraw our candidature (of Yashwant Sinha),” said Routray.

He said he will follow the party high command’s order but added that if there are no whips then the Congress MLAs will vote as per their conscience.

Routray’s statement came two days after Congress Legislative Party leader Narasingha Mishra said the party will not support Murmu as she is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate.

“No matter how good or well-behaved a person is and what he achieves, the Congress will never support the person who believes in the ideology of RSS or BJP. Even though she is a good politician and a good human being, she believes in the BJP ideology. So, the Congress will never support her. People of this ideology killed Mahatma Gandhi and we will never support such people,” he said.

Two days ago, chief minister Naveen Patnaik urged all MLAs of the state to support Murmu calling her “daughter of the state”. In the 147-member state assembly, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has 112 MLAs while the BJP has 22. The Congress has 9 MLAs, two of whom are tribals.

However, a former Congress MLA from Koraput conceded that Murmu’s candidature has put the party in a fix. “Though we would like to tell everyone that we support the party candidate, how can we oppose a tribal woman in a state where our fortunes are on a steady decline. We hope the party reconsiders its decision on Yashwant Sinha,” said the former Congress MLA.

Political analysts said Routray’s statement showed the confusion in the party.

“The Congress was in power in Odisha with the support of tribal votes. The local leaders must be in a quandary on voting against Murmu as it would make them look like anti-tribal. Though the party leaders would like to claim that they would toe the party line, many may cross-vote as it’s a secret ballot,” said Satya Prakash Dash, a political science professor in Sambalpur.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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