Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Monday put out tweets welcoming the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, ahead of her visit to the state.

“NDA’s Presidential nominee respected Shrimati Droupadi Murmu ji is arriving in Jharkhand. We welcome her to the holy land of Bhagwan Birsa Munda (tribal icon). Many good wishes and Johar to respected Droupadi ji from my end,” read the tweet written in Hindi.

Within two hours, state drinking water and sanitation minister and a JMM leader Mithilesh Thakur, considered close to Soren, retweeted the chief minister’s tweet stating: “Johar.. Respected Droupadi Murmu ji”.

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren greets Murmu in Ranchi on Monday.

Another JMM MLA from Giridih and party’s general secretary, Sudivya Kumar, also retweeted the chief minister’s tweet and welcomed Murmu.

The JMM, which heads the UPA government in the state, has not yet announced who it will support for President. The candidature of Murmu, a tribal leader, has put the party in a bind.

Sources in JMM said that Murmu visited JMM patriarch Shibu Soren at his Ranchi residence and also met Hemant Soren for nearly 20 minutes around 6pm. She had also spoken over phone to Shibu Soren soon after her nomination as NDA candidate.

She left Jharkhand around 6.30pm.

Insiders in JMM revealed that the party, after meeting Murmu, might give freedom of choice to the MPs and MLAs to vote as per their conscience during the poll on July 18 as the party hinging on tribal vote would not like to lose support over this issue.

Murmu, after a traditional welcome by artistes arranged by BJP state unit in tribal attires at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi, had gone directly to a private hotel and met the BJP MLAs and MPs and also MLAs of AJSU and an Independent MLA Amit Yadav who decided to extend support to Murmu.

Droupadi Murmu (centre) with BJP leaders at a private hotel in Ranchi on Monday.

Murmu, during her interaction with NDA allies, recalled her deep connection with Jharkhand and the attachment she has for the state.

“She said that Jharkhandi blood runs in her veins as her grandmother was also from Jharkhand. It would be a historic occasion to see a Santhal woman becoming President of the country and we expect JMM and all parties from Jharkhand to support her,” said Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth, while sharing the interaction with Murmu at the private hotel.

Incidentally, media and outsiders were not allowed into the meeting at the hotel. Yashwant Sinha's son and BJP's Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha was not present at the meeting.

However, BJP spokesperson Pratul Sahdeo brushed aside the issue. “He has already stated in a tweet about doing duty as a party leader. He might have had some problem and could not be present at the meeting,” said Sahdeo.

Meanwhile, Congress legislative party leader and state rural development minister Alamgir Alam said that party MLAs can vote for any of the President candidates of their choice.

“Like on earlier occasions we will not ask any party MLA or MP to vote for a particular candidate. They are free to exercise their own decision on the issue,” said Alam after a party meeting with all MLAs in Ranchi.

Opposition alliance, including Congress and JMM, have fielded Yashwant Sinha as Presidential nominee for the July 18 election.

The JMM has 30 MLAs in the Jharkhand Assembly and two MPs, while Congress has 17 MLAs and two MPs. On the other hand, NDA has 28 MLAs and 16 MPs in Jharkhand.

Sources in the Congress leadership hinted about Yashwant Sinha, who has had a long connection with Jharkhand, coming to Ranchi on July 6-7 to seek support from MLAs and MPs.