Odisha’s BJD to abstain from VP polls, cites policy of ‘equidistance’

THe Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Odisha on mon said it would refrain from the Vice-Presidential elections, a daytime before the polls and simply hours after Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) took a similar conclusion.“Biju Janata Dal has decided to abstain from the vice presidential elections tomorrow. The Biju Janata Dal remains equidistant from both the NDA and INDIA alliances. We are focused on the development and welfare of Odisha and 4.5 crore people of Odisha,” said BJD Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra.Since 2014, the BJD, led by Naveen Patnaik, has played the politics of equidistance with great poise, opposing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha, but siding with the Modi government at the Centre as and when needed. In April this year, five of its Rajya Sabha MPs voted for the Waqf Bill even though the parliamentary board — chaired by Patnaik — resolved to vote against the BJP’s proposal. The reversal triggered rare open dissent and questions over who countermanded the official line.For NDA, the abstention of BJD would not be music to its ears. Though it already commands a working majority for the VP poll — about 439 of 781 eligible for Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, it wants to win significantly by wooing fence-sitters, including BJD and BRS. If these two parties abstain, NDA’s vote percentage would be at 57.4%, way short of the 74% mark that its previous candidate, Jagdeep Dhankhar, polled in 2022.Since 2002, no Vice-President has won with less than 60% support; Venkaiah Naidu got 68% in 2017, Hamid Ansari secured 67% and 61% in 2012 and 2007, respectively, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in 2002 got 60%. The NDA’s reduced Lok Sabha strength — 240 for the BJP and 293 for the alliance — means even a victory will carry a slimmer mandate. Hence, the BJP is scrambling hard for every additional vote.BJP leader, and revenue and disaster management minister Suresh Pujari said BJD lacked clarity when it came to making decisions in the national interest. “Currently, there are two clear camps, one led by the NDA/BJP and the other by the Congress. There is no space for a third option,” he said.State Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das said BJD’s choice of abstaining from voting in Vice Presidential elections reveals its “backdoor game” of helping BJP to safeguard “certain interests”.“The BJD lacks both the will and courage to stand up against BJP in Odisha’s interests,” he said.Many see the decision as a feeble attempt by Patnaik to shed the accusation of BJD being the B-team of BJP in Odisha. After the BJP’s upset win in Odisha last year, the BJD’s legislative presence has been muted, feeding the perception that it functions as BJP’s handmaiden. Grass-roots murmurs have grown louder: some cadre talk of defecting to the BJP outright, few others are flirting with Congress while the rest dream of joining a new regional platform as they realise that the longer they stay in BJD, the more credibility erodes.Faced with the twin pressures of BJP’s expectation of explicit support and internal calls for at least abstention to preserve manoeuvrability, Patnaik seems to have chosen the latter. Many see BJD’s abstention as a signal to keep its cards open ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in April 2026 as opposition goodwill could prove crucial if the BJD seeks Congress backing to send two MPs to Rajya Sabha instead of one.