Contesting presidential poll to make people feel proud: Droupadi Murmu

The National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on Friday said she accepted the offer to contest the election to make the people of her community and the country proud.

Murmu, who is canvassing support ahead of the July 18 election when she will face off with Opposition's candidate Yashwant Sinha, spoke before a gathering of BJP MPs and MLAs at Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's official residence here.

On June 21, just 15 minutes before announcing my candidature, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me and informed me about the decision. You can imagine what must have happened to me. I told him you have made me the governor (of Jharkhand) and I was able to discharge my duties properly, but will I be able to do this work properly?" Murmu said.

He said we all are with you and you have to do it," she said quoting the prime minister.

"After 75 years of Independence, the people who have never got this opportunity, who never thought that they will reach such a position... they are very happy and they have a lot of expectations and are very enthusiastic about it," said Murmu.

As prime minister is thinking of bringing the downtrodden into the mainstream.... and they should not feel small in life, (so) I have said yes to the offer, she added.

Murmu said all she has in her life is "this country, this party and God."

"Therefore, I thought in order to make the people of the country feel proud.... I am dedicating my life for the country. I have not accepted the offer for me, but for the country," she added.

Speaking at the program, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat highlighted Murmu's struggles in life.

He also said that the BJP wanted to ensure that not a single vote gets rejected in the presidential poll, and explained to the lawmakers how to mark a straight line on the ballot paper, like the sign for 'full stop' in Hindi.

Chief minister Chouhan also spoke about Murmu's journey from a corporator to MLA, minister and governor, and described her as a woman of strong determination.

The NDA's choice of Murmu for president forced many non-NDA parties to support her, he noted.

State BJP president V D Sharma said the BJP is the only party which has given the opportunity to become president to a member of a minority community, a Dalit and now to a member of a tribal community.

Union ministers Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste, BJP general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijaywargiya and members of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) among others were present on the occasion.

Earlier, on her arrival from Raipur, Murmu was greeted by tribal dance troupes at the airport as well as at Chouhan's residence.