New Delhi: Former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma on Thursday filed his nomination papers for the office of the President of India, election for which will be held on July 19.

The tribal leader filed his nomination papers in the presence of BJP veteran LK Advani, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, H Ananth Kumar, Rajnath Singh, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Janta Party chief Subramaniyan Swamy and Thambidurai of AIADMK.

Among others who graced the occasion were Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa.

Ahead of filing the papers, Sangma said that it is a victory of tribal people of the country and the Congress will pay a price for having for opposed his candidature.

“My candidature was sponsored by the tribal forum of India, nominated by chief ministers of Orrissa and Tamil Nadu and backed by BJP and other NDA allies, I thank them for their support,” he said.

Taking on the Congress, Sangma said, “Tribal people of India have all along stood by the Indian National Congress, we expected that Congress will support (his candidature) but they did not support… they will know the effect of this action. Tribals in India are united and we will move together in future with a unity which was never seen in this country.”

“Today is the victory of tribals,” Sangma stressed.

Earlier in the day, UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee filed his nomination papers in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Yadav and others.