New Delhi: As election for the post of Vice President is underway in the Parliament House, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Sulata Deo on Tuesday asserted that the party’s decision to abstain from voting was taken in the interest of the people of Odisha.
“Our party is a regional party, not a national one. The decision taken by our leader, Naveen Patnaik, is our priority. He made this decision keeping in mind the interests of the people of Odisha, and we respect that. That is why we have decided not to vote,” she told IANS.
The BJD had earlier said that the decision was also part of the party’s policy of “maintaining an equal distance” from both the BJP-led NDA and Congress-led INDIA bloc at the national level. The regional party, which had failed to open its account in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
When asked whether the Opposition candidate, former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy, stands a chance, Deo noted that the result is unpredictable until the evening, as voting is ongoing and no whip has been issued.
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Though the BJD’s abstention is unlikely to affect the outcome of the poll, the Opposition has termed it as a tactical support to the NDA nominee, having been in the past dubbed as an unofficial ally of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Union Minister Jual Oram saw the decision as an indirect endorsement of the NDA candidate. “Naveen Babu is indirectly supporting us,” Jual said.
Echoing Jual’s views, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das said: “Abstaining from voting means supporting the BJP… this was an opportunity for the BJD to prove that it is opposed to the saffron camp.”
Congress leader Sarat Rout further stated that the decision revealed BJD’s reluctance to take a firm stand against its former ally, the BJP. The lone Congress MP from Odisha, Saptagiri Ulaka, also urged Naveen to reconsider his party’s decision. “The INDIA bloc candidate, B Sudershan Reddy, is not a Congress leader. He is an eminent jurist who is being supported by the grand old party and others. If BJD MPs vote for him, that will not impact the regional party’s policy of maintaining equidistance. There is still time to reconsider,” he said.
The BJD MPs had also abstained from voting in the Vice-Presidential election in 2012.
According to reports, the BJP-led NDA is confident of a comfortable win for its nominee and Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan with numbers stacked in his favour and has scheduled a dinner tonight to celebrate.
The election, which began at 10 am at the New Parliament Building, will continue until 5 pm, with the counting scheduled for 6 pm.