E-Paper
Odisha’s BJD to abstain from voting in Vice President polls
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) remains equidistant from both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliances
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha on Monday announced that it will abstain from the Vice President election on Tuesday.
“Biju Janata Dal has decided to abstain from the vice presidential elections tomorrow. The Biju Janata Dal remains equidistant from both the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliances. We are focused on the development and welfare of Odisha and 4.5 crore people of Odisha”, BJD’s Rajya Sabha leader Sasmit Patra said on Monday.
According to functionaries, the political affairs committee of the BJD had met last week and urged party president Naveen Patnaik not to side with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it would weaken the party’s fight against the ruling party, which is in power in Odisha, too.
The committee however had left the final decision to Patnaik who came to Delhi on Sunday.
The BJD abstained from the 2012 VP polls, in which Hamid Ansari won. It supported non-NDA candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the 2017 polls, in which Venkaiah Naidu was elected. In 2022, it supported NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar.
“But this time, supporting the NDA became a difficult choice as the BJD government lost power in the state to the BJP in 2024,” said a BJD leader.
According to another party leader, BJD, with its long history of opposing the Congress, also decided not to support Opposition candidate B Sudershan Reddy.
A senior non-Congress opposition leader told HT that they didn’t reach out to BJD.
