The Shiv Sena is facing a major political crisis after rebellion by senior party leader Eknath Shinde last month. This resulted in the ouster of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra.
Shinde is the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra, backed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Around 40 of 55 Shiv Sena MLAs joined the Shinde camp.
Another jolt to Thackeray came when 66 of 67 Sena members in Thane Municipal Corporation sided with the Shinde faction. Now, two of Shiv Sena MPs Rahul Shewale and Rajendra Gavit have written a letter to Thackeray demanding that the party should support BJP presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.
Earlier, Thackeray had supported the candidature of joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
However, in the changed political scenario, the Shiv Sena chief has said that he will take a decision about the presidential election after speaking to all the party MPs.
CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide survey for IANS to know people's views about Shiv Sena's stand about the upcoming presidential elections.
The survey revealed that people's views were divided on the issue with a bigger proportion of respondents, 57 per cent suggesting that Thackeray should back Murmu, 43 per cent disagreed with the sentiment and opined that the Shiv Sena chief should support joint opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.
During the survey, while a majority of NDA voters, 64 per cent, stressed that Thackeray's party should vote for the BJP presidential candidate, views of opposition supporters were divided on the issue.
According to the survey data, while a substantial proportion of opposition supporters, 51 per cent said that Thackeray should support Murmu, 49 per cent suggested that the party should vote for Yashwant Sinha.
The survey highlighted differences in the opinions of different social groups on the issue.
While a majority of Upper Caste Hindus (UCH), 68 per cent, Scheduled Castes 66 per cent and Other Backward Classes 63 per cent suggested that Thackeray should support Murmu, majority of Muslims spoke in favour of party backing Yashwant Sinha.
Views of Scheduled Tribes were divided on the issue, with a larger proportion, 56 per cent suggesting Shiv Sena's support to Yashwant Sinha.
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