Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD), have chosen to stay away from the September 9 Vice Presidential elections, but for different reasons.

BRS working President K.T. Rama Rao said the abstention was a mark of protest against what he called government indifference to the urea shortage in Telangana.

"We are abstaining. We are not going to participate," he said, adding that the party would have opted for None of the Above (NOTA) had it been available.

Rama Rao alleged that both the Congress and BJP have "failed" farmers, with scuffles breaking out in queues for fertiliser.

He said that the decision was not directed at the two candidates, NDA’s C.P. Radhakrishnan and Opposition’s B. Sudershan Reddy, both of whom he acknowledged "may have been good candidates" but are tied to the BJP and the INDIA bloc.

BRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, after consultations with party MPs and leaders, decided on abstention. The party has four Rajya Sabha MPs but no representation in the Lok Sabha.

In Odisha, the BJD has chosen abstention, but for strategic reasons.

"BJD president Naveen Patnaik has decided that the party's MPs will abstain from voting in the vice presidential elections. He took the decision after consulting senior party leaders, members of the political affairs committee (PAC) and lawmakers," BJD MP Sasmit Patra said.

Patra said the party will continue to maintain equal distance from the NDA and the INDIA bloc.

The BJP welcomed the move.

Union minister Jual Oram said, "By deciding that BJD MPs will abstain from voting, Naveen Babu has indirectly supported the NDA candidate."

BJP MP Pradeep Purohit added, "They have not opposed our candidate."

Congress called the decision tacit support for the NDA.

"Abstaining from voting means supporting the BJP... this was an opportunity for the BJD to prove that it is opposed to the saffron camp," said Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das.

Saptagiri Ulaka, the lone Congress MP from Odisha, appealed to Patnaik to reconsider: "The INDIA bloc candidate, B. Sudershan Reddy, is not a Congress leader. He is an eminent jurist… there is still time to reconsider."

Ulaka also claimed Patnaik had lost grip over his party, pointing to the divided stand of BJD MPs during the Waqf (Amendment) Bill debate.

The BJD chose abstention in the 2012 vice presidential elections. This time too, its seven Rajya Sabha MPs will sit out.

The election was necessitated by the resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on July 21.