NEW DELHI: The prospects of BJP’s vice-presidential nominee Jagdeep Dhankhar received a boost Sunday when two non-NDA regional powerhouses – BJD and AIADMK – officially declared their support for him. The BJD made the announcement soon after a call from PM Narendra Modi to party chief and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, who had been among the first to also back NDA‘s presidential pick Droupadi Murmu.
The AIADMK followed suit, announcing after a meeting of its MLAs in Chennai that it would back both Murmu and Dhankhar. Although Dhankhar was named NDA’s VP candidate Saturday, BJD was apparently waiting for the opposition to decide its nominee before taking a call.

The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD, which has already thrown its weight behind NDA’s presidential pick Droupadi Murmu, on Sunday announced its support for its VP nominee, Jagdeep Dhankhar. BJD’s decision came minutes after PM Modi called up the Odisha CM to seek his support, reports Debabrata Mohapatra. It must be noted that in 2017, while it had supported NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind as president, it had had supported opposition’s candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the VP’s post.