As the presidential election in India approaches, one of the opposition parties, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Monday strongly criticized the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for nominating Draupadi Murmu as its candidate.
TRS president and IT minister in Telangana's state government, Kalvakuntia Taraka Rama Rao claimed the BJP and its allies' decision to nominate Murmu - the first candidate from a tribal community to stand as president - is "tokenism".
Rao was in Delhi to give his support to Yashwant Sinha, the candidate nominated by the country's opposition parties, who filed his nomination papers in the Parliament House on Monday.
While talking to reporters in Delhi, Rao said: "We don't believe in tokenism. It is not about Murmu's candidature. She represents a party which is heavily reliant on unconstitutional practices. Therefore, we vehemently oppose the BJP candidate."
Accusing the BJP-led Federal government of not doing anything for the welfare of the tribal community in the past eight years, Rao said that a tribal community was promised for Telangana as part of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act but it has not yet seen the light of day.
“Besides, the Telangana state government had requested the Federal government to increase the reservation for tribal people in the state due to increase in their population. A resolution was passed in the assembly four years back but the Centre has not accepted this request," he stated.
He also alleged that the BJP-led government has been abusing all constitutional offices and there is a need to stop this.
The BJP-nominated Murmu is the first tribal leader to contest the presidential poll. The 64-year-old who hails from Odisha, also served as Governor of Jharkhand state, being the first one to complete a five-year term.
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