Odishatv Bureau
Bhubaneswar: BJD-backed presidential candidate P.A. Sangma`s son Conrad Sangma will visit Odisha today to give further boost to his father`s campaign to become the First Citizen of the country. Although the odds are heavily stacked against Sangma, the former Lok Sabha Speaker has pulled out all the stops to emerge as a serious contender in the race for Raisina Hill. Sangma’s name was first proposed by Naveen Patnaik on May 17.

Naveen described Sangma as the fittest candidate to hold the highest office of the country.  Naveen has justified Sangma’s candidature umpteen times as the Prez hopeful is a tribal leader from the northeast and belongs to the minority community. As nearly 25 per cent of Odisha’s population comprises of tribals, Naveen has stuck to his position that Sangma ought to be the President of the country.

The race for Raisina Hill has taken many twists and turns in the last one month and there was a time when no other party stepped forward to support Sangma except the BJD and AIADMK. But the Odisha CM’s support for Sangma has not wavered a bit. Some critics even questioned Naveen’s political wisdom as no other party was willing to support a tribal candidate for the post of President except the BJD and AIADMK. But the BJP and Akali Dal support for Sangma has changed the political landscape completely.

Pranab Mukherji may have emerged as a clear favourite to win the presidential election, but Sangma is still hoping for a miracle. It’s an uphill task for Sangma to pip Pranab at the post, but Naveen’s strategy to project Sangma as a serious contender has yielded desired results. Naveen wanted to send a clear and loud message to woo the tribal electorate of the state and so far, he seems to be successful in his endeavour.

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