Fact Check: Did TMC propose Murmu for President in 2017?

New Delhi, Jun 27: Days after Droupadi Murmu was announced as the NDA candidate for the forthcoming Presidential elections, a letter surfaced online claiming that the TMC had proposed Murmu's name for the post of the President of India in 2017.

A Hindi daily, quoting TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, reported that the TMC was the first to have proposed the name of Murmu.

How true is this claim?

Kunal Ghosh has now clarified that the TMC along with several other opposition parties had endorsed former speaker Meira Kumar for the top job in 2017. However, he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his personal capacity, suggesting that a consensus candidate be considered and forwarded three names - Najma Heptullah, then president Pranab Mukherjee (for re-election) and Murmu.

He was then suspended from his party. "I had written it as a citizen of the country. I had suggested the names in my individual capacity at that time and not on behalf of TMC," Ghosh told PTI.

Also, TMC Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy stated that the letter was sent in his private capacity and the TMC had not endorsed it.

However, he does not endorse her this time. "Murmu is the candidate from the BJP camp, and everyone has seen how the BJP tried to sow differences among people in the name of religion and how the fuel prices spiralled. Murmu is the candidate of that anti-people, communal, undemocratic, hatred-spewing BJP...," Ghosh said.

Hence, it can be termed as misleading claim.

This time, the TMC is backing Yashwant Sinha.