VP Venkaiah Naidu, Jagdeep Dhankhar, other dignitaries meet President-elect Droupadi Murmu, congratulate her

PTI, Jul 22, 2022, 8:50 PM IST

PTI/Vijay Verma

New Delhi: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu visited Droupadi Murmu’s temporary residence here on Friday and congratulated her on being elected as the 15th president of India.

Visitors, including Union ministers and seers, continued to stream in to meet Murmu and congratulate her on being elected to the top constitutional post. The vice-presidential candidate of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Jagdeep Dhankhar, also congratulated her in person.

Among others who met Murmu were Union ministers Bhupender Yadav and G Kishan Reddy and religious leaders and functionaries of Brahma Kumaris, a spiritual organisation with which the President-elect has been associated.

Naidu met Murmu and congratulated her on being elected as the 15th president of the country, a tweet by his office said.

The meeting lasted for 15 minutes, sources said.

After meeting Murmu, Dhankhar said in a tweet: ”Congratulated today President-elect Droupadi Murmu Ji. She exemplifies the spinal strength of our democracy and encapsulates wide experience in public life, the spirit of selfless service, and deep understanding of people’s issues. In a sense, history has been scripted.” Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including its general secretary Vinod Tawde, also congratulated Murmu in person.

Many senior functionaries of the government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had visited her on Thursday, soon after she emerged victorious in the presidential poll, to congratulate her.

Murmu (64) has scripted history as she will be the country’s first tribal president. She defeated Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in a one-sided contest.

The former Jharkhand governor won by an overwhelming margin against Sinha after receiving more than 64 percent of the valid votes in a daylong counting of ballots of the MPs and MLAs, comprising the electoral college, to succeed Ram Nath Kovind. She will take oath on Monday.