diff --git a/go/vt/vtorc/inst/instance_dao.go b/go/vt/vtorc/inst/instance_dao.go
index d7badd906d6..c86660b51da 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtorc/inst/instance_dao.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtorc/inst/instance_dao.go
@@ -507,7 +507,6 @@ func ReadInstanceClusterAttributes(instance *Instance) (err error) {
 
 	err = db.QueryVTOrc(query, args, func(m sqlutils.RowMap) error {
 		primaryReplicationDepth = m.GetUint("replication_depth")
-		primaryAlias = m.GetString("alias")
 		primaryHostname = m.GetString("source_host")
 		primaryPort = m.GetInt("source_port")
 		ancestryUUID = m.GetString("ancestry_uuid")