The National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu on Friday visited Chhattisgarh capital Raipur to meet MPs and MLAs in the Congress-ruled state as part of her poll campaign. Tribal folk artists wearing colourful attire accorded a grand welcome to Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha, at the Swami Vivekananda Airport here amid the beats of 'dhol' and 'nagada' (drums) and through their traditional dance performance.
A large number of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and workers were present at the airport to welcome Murmu, who arrived in a special aircraft around 9.50 am. State BJP chief Vishnu Deo Sai, former chief minister Raman Singh, leader of opposition in the state assembly Dharam Lal Kaushik, BJP MPs and MLAs were among those who received her at the airport.
From the airport, Murmu headed straight to Canal Linking Road, where she offered garland to the statue of queen Rani Durgavati, a BJP leader here said. Rani Durgavati had ruled Gondwana kingdom, which included major parts of Madhya Pradesh,from 1550 to 1564.
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After that, she went to a hotel located in Jail Road area, where she was again welcomed with performances by tribal dance troupes. Murmu, a former Governor of Jharkhand, interacted with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs and MPs and legislators from Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - two other opposition parties in the state assembly during the meeting, he said.
State BJP Chief Vishnu Deo Sai, JCC (J) MLA Dharmjeet Singh and BSP MLA Keshav Chandra addressed the occasion and welcomed the candidature of Murmu. JCC(J) and BSP also gave letters to Murmu extending their support to her, the leader said.
Later, Murmu also met social workers and intellectuals, he said. She left for neighbouring Madhya Pradesh around 2.30 pm, the leader said. In the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly, the Congress has 71 MLAs, BJP 14, while JCC (J) and BSP have three and two members, respectively.
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Of the 11 Lok Sabha MPs from the state, nine are from the BJP, while two belong to the ruling Congress. The Congress has four Rajya Sabha members and BJP one from the state. BJP's senior tribal leader Nand Kumar Sai had said Pratibha Patil was the first woman president of India, while Murmu would become the first woman from the Scheduled Tribes community to hold the highest constitutional post.
Tribals account for 32 per cent of Chhattisgarh's population and the opposition BJP which suffered a massive defeat in the last assembly elections here, is eyeing to woo tribals, who play a significant role in elections, through Murmu's candidature. The opposition parties have fielded Yashwant Sinha as its candidate for the presidential poll. Sinha had visited Chhattisgarh on July 1 to seek support for the July 18 poll.
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