Droupadi Murmu likely to begin campaign from July 1 from a state with sizeable tribal population: Sources

NDA presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu is likely to begin campaigning from July 1 from a state with a sizeable tribal population, sources said on Sunday. They said discussions are being held to finalise the state from where she will launch her campaign for the July 18 presidential election.

In the meantime, Murmu is reaching out to leaders of various parties over phone to seek their support. She is likely to call up the leaders of opposition parties such as the DMK which is in power in Tamil Nadu and Telangana's ruling TRS in the coming days, the sources said.

Murmu had called up JMM supremo and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday seeking his party's support for her candidature. Before filing her nomination papers on June 24, Murmu had dialled Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and sought their support.

Murmu, a tribal leader from Odisha and former governor of Jharkhand, had filed her nomination on Friday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi handing over her papers to Returning Officer PC Mody. She was accompanied by a host of Union ministers, including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, and BJP president JP Nadda.