The party leadership said that they had taken the decision as a Union Minister from Telangana had clearly said that they do not need the support of the BRS in the V-P polls
As expected, the BRS has officially made clear its stance that it would abstain from voting in the crucial Vice-Presidential elections, scheduled on Sept. 9. The party leadership said that they had taken the decision as a Union Minister from Telangana had clearly said that they do not need the support of the BRS in the V-P polls. At the same time, the Congress government in Telangana has been continuously harassing the BRS cadre in the state, the leadership alleged, adding that due to the above reasons they do not want to vote to any of the candidate in the V-P polls. Unfortunately, there is no option of NOTA in the electoral ballot. Our abstaining can be interpreted as NOTA, party working president K.T. Rama Rao said.
NDA's candidate, CP Radhakrishnan, hailing from Tamil Nadu, has been pitted against the Opposition's B. Sudershan Reddy, a former Supreme Court Judge belonging to Telangana, creating an interesting South vs South formula, putting several political parties in a fix.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, though having an alliance with the Congress, cannot support Radhakrishnan even when he belongs to the state, given its anti-BJP stance. In addition, supporting Radhakrishnan would be considered as disregarding Tamil pride. The NDA's decision to field Radhakrishnan, who is also a businessman, as its V-P candidate is also being considered a strategic move to put the DMK in a spot.
Political experts opined that the Opposition's choice of Sudershan Reddy, from the Telugu states, would make it difficult for the political parties in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana -- YSRCP and BRS, to back Reddy, as they oppose the Congress. Though a Telugu face, these parties cannot vote to Sudershan Reddy, due to the differing ideologies of the parties.
The contest between Radhakrishnan, who has his roots in RSS, and Sudershan Reddy, is termed as an 'ideologicial battle' by the opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Left parties, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.
The Vice President election was necessitated due to the sudden resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar citing health reasons in July this year.
