BJD, BRS to Abstain from VP Poll, NDA Gets Upper Hand

• Vice President election voting between NDA’s C.P. Radhakrishnan and opposition’s Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy.
• BJD and BRS to abstain, citing “equal distance” and lack of NOTA option.
• Abstention likely to benefit NDA candidate.
• Voting from 10 AM to 5 PM inside Parliament.
• Congress terms BJD’s move as indirect support to BJP.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 9th Sept: Political activity has intensified ahead of the Vice President election, with voting set to take place on Tuesday. The opposition has fielded Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy as its candidate against NDA nominee C.P. Radhakrishnan.

In a major development, Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Telangana’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) announced on Monday that they would abstain from voting.

BJD cites “equal distance” policy
The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD declared that its MPs would not participate in the election, reaffirming the party’s policy of maintaining “equal distance” from both the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led INDIA bloc.

Currently, BJD has no members in the Lok Sabha, while it holds seven seats in the Rajya Sabha.

BJD MP Sasmit Patra said, “Party president Naveen Patnaik, after consulting senior leaders and the political affairs committee, has decided that our MPs will abstain. Our priority remains Odisha’s development and the welfare of 4.5 crore people.”

BRS also distances itself
BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao announced that the party would also stay away from voting, citing the absence of a NOTA option.

Shiv Sena’s remarks
Meanwhile, Shrikant Shinde of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena said, “Being a candidate, B. Sudarshan Reddy should appeal to MPs. You will see tomorrow that the NDA candidate will secure more votes than expected.”

Voting schedule
The Vice President election will be held inside Parliament from 10 AM to 5 PM on Tuesday. It will be a direct contest between NDA nominee C.P. Radhakrishnan and opposition candidate Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy.

Reactions to BJD’s decision
Both BJP and Congress acknowledged that BJD’s decision indirectly benefits the NDA. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Jual Oram welcomed the move, saying, “By keeping its MPs away, Naveen Babu has indirectly supported the NDA candidate. Importantly, he has not opposed our candidate.”

Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das echoed the sentiment, stating, “Abstaining means supporting BJP. This was BJD’s chance to prove it stood against the saffron camp, but it chose otherwise.”

Notably, BJD had also abstained during the Vice President election in 2012.