New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two fence-sitters, have announced to abstain from voting in the high-stakes Vice Presidential polls scheduled for Tuesday, 9 September.

Both parties have asserted that they remain "equidistant" from both the NDA and the INDIA bloc, news agency PTI reported.

BRS Working President KT Rama Rao said on Monday that his party would abstain from the Vice Presidential election as an expression of "anguish" of Telangana's farmers over the shortage of urea in the state. Both the Congress and BJP have "failed" to address the shortage issue, he alleged.

The shortage is such that scuffles are taking place among farmers whil...