Bhubaneswar, Jun 23 (PTI) A day after appealing to all Odisha MLAs to support the "daughter of the soil" in the ensuing presidential elections, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said two of his cabinet colleagues will remain present during the filing of nomination by NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.
Patnaik is currently on an official foreign tour to Italy. "BJP President Shri @JPNadda Ji spoke to me about the filing of nomination of Smt #DraupadiMurmu Ji for #PresidentElections. My cabinet colleagues Shri @saraka_fan and Smt@TukuniSahu will sign nomination papers today and attend the event tomorrow," he tweeted.
Patnaik, also the BJD chief, has already asked Odisha Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste Development Minister Jagannath Saraka and Women and Child Development Minister Tukuni Sahu to rush to Delhi and sign the nomination papers of Murmu as proposers and remain present during the filing of the documents.
Sahu has already reached Delhi and met Murmu at Odisha Bhavan during the day.
Saraka, in a reply tweet, said, "Thank you Hon'ble CM Shri @Naveen_Odisha sir give me this opportunity."
Also, at least 10 of the 22 BJP MLAs in the state will remain present when Murmu files her nomination papers on Friday.
Patnaik had on Wednesday appealed to all Odisha legislators to support Murmu, describing her as the "daughter of the state".
His appeal came a day after BJP-led NDA announced Murmu’s name as its presidential candidate for the July 18 poll.
The ruling BJD has 114 MLAs in the 147-member House, while the BJP has 22 lawmakers followed by nine of Congress and one of CPI (M). There is also an Independent member. The regional party has also 12 MPs in Lok Sabha and nine in Rajya Sabha.
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