NEW DELHI, June 22: A round-the-clock ‘Z ‘ category armed security cover by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been provided to the NDA presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.
“The CRPF has provided for the security to Ms Murmu from Wednesday morning following orders received from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday evening, official sources said.
On Tuesday, the BJP named the 64-year old former Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu as the ruling National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate. Considering the numbers in NDA’s favour, she is certain to be elected to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to become the first tribal and the second woman to become the President of India.
Ms Murmu, who hails from Odisha, is a grassroots politician and has many firsts to her credit. She was the first woman and tribal leader from Odisha to be appointed as governor of any state. She served as the governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021, the first governor to complete the term in the state.
She was also in consideration for the presidential post in 2017 but later Ramnath Kovind made the cut. Her political career began when she contested and won an election for councillor in Rairangpur, Odisha. She later won the assembly election in 2000 from Rairangpur and became a minister in the BJD-BJP government in the state. She earned great respect in her tenure as an MLA and minister in the state.
The BJP’s move to name Ms Murmu as its presidential candidate comes ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The four states have 128 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes, of which the BJP had won just 35 seats in the last assembly elections.
(Manas Dasgupta)