V-P poll: BRS’s 4 MPs to abstain, Oppn Telugu card doesn’t work

The BRS has four MPs in the Rajya Sabha. Both Houses of Parliament form the electoral college in a V-P election, and the NDA enjoys an overwhelming majority in it.

Earlier, when V-P candidates were announced by the NDA and a joint Opposition, KTR had said the BRS would support the one who solves Telangana’s urea shortage. “Neither of the candidates has responded positively to this. We have nothing against either of them. They (the NDA’s C P Radhakrishnan and Opposition’s B Sudershan Reddy) are both good candidates, but representing the angst of the farmers of Telangana, the BRS has decided to abstain from the election,” KTR said.

Seventy lakh farmers in the state are reeling under a urea shortage crisis, the BRS leader said.

If there was a NOTA option, the BRS would have opted for that, he added. “It is good to participate in the democratic process through elections. But in this case the BRS’s choice is NOTA. As that is not available, and since we have to choose a side, we decided not to participate in the elections.”

The decision to abstain from voting was taken in consultation with party president K Chandrashekar Rao, KTR said. “This was discussed at length and it was decided that the party will not participate,” he said.

The BRS’s decision to abstain came after the Congress leadership, including Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, requested all Telugu parties to vote for the joint Opposition candidate and former Supreme Court judge Sudershan Reddy, who hails from Telangana.

Incidentally, the decision to abstain comes days after KTR’s sister Kavitha left the BRS, which was trounced in the 2023 Assembly elections, accusing her brother of wanting to merge the party with the BJP.

Of the other two Telugu regional parties, the TDP and JanaSena Party are part of the NDA, while the YSRCP has also announced its backing for Radhakrishnan.