BRS, BJD abstain from vice presidential election

ON the eve of the vice presidential election, former Odisha chief government minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and former Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on mon proclaimed to refrain from the francis scott key poll on Tuesday.Though the decision of the two parties, which have in the past supported the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on key legislations in Parliament, might not have a bearing on the poll outcome, it will likely dent the NDA’s prospects of increasing the victory margin.“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 (45 million) people of Odisha,” BJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra said on Monday.The BJD has seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha.In the evening, BRS leader KT Rama Rao announced that the party will abstain from the election as it is not “subservient” to the BJP or the Congress. “We are not in NDA; we are not in INDIA bloc. BRS is a completely independent party. We have no bosses in Delhi. Telangana people are our only bosses,” KTR said.The BRS working president had earlier said he will support the party that can give large quantity of urea to Telangana farmers. The BRS has four MPs in the Rajya Sabha and none in the Lok Sabha.According to functionaries, both NDA and INDIA bloc had reached out to BRS for support.In the 2022 VP poll, the BRS (then Telangana Rashtra Samithi) had voted for Opposition candidate Margaret Alva.The BJD’s decision to stay away from the VP poll came as a bigger shock to the NDA as Patnaik’s party had supported the ruling alliance on several key issues over the last 11 years.According to functionaries, the BJD political affairs committee met last week and urged Patnaik not to side with the BJP as it would weaken the party’s fight against the BJP, which is also in power in Odisha.A senior Congress leader said the party had “activated” former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, who knows Patnaik from their Doon School days, to prevail upon the former Odisha CM. While Patnaik came to Delhi during the weekend, Nath, too, was in the national Capital.The BJD abstained from the 2012 VP poll, in which Hamid Ansari won. It backed non-NDA candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the 2017 poll, in which Venkaiah Naidu won. In 2022, it supported NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar.(With inputs from Debabrata Mohanty and Srinivasa Rao Apparasu)