Karnataka elections: With less than a month to go for Karnataka elections, BJP MLA from Shivamogga KS Eshwarappa on Tuesday announced that he won't be fighting polls this time.
Announcing his retirement, the veteran legislator and former deputy chief minister, who has often been at the centre of controversies due to his statements and allegations levelled against him, wrote to party president J P Nadda opting out of contesting the May 10 assembly polls and said he was retiring from electoral politics.
"I wish to voluntarily retire from electoral politics. Hence, it is my request not to consider my name for any constituency for the Assembly elections this time," the former Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council said in a letter to BJP President J P Nadda.
"I spoke about my decision in the Karnataka BJP election committee meeting which was held a few days ago in Bengaluru but party leaders Prahlad Joshi, Nalin Kumar Kateel and others did not accept my decision and that's why I wrote to party president JP Nadda to accept my decision and allow me to work with more responsibilities to bring back BJP with full majority in Karnataka," he added.
Notably, Eshwarappa would turn 75 in June, the unofficial age bar in the BJP for leaders to contest polls and hold official positions. Though there have been occasional exceptions as well. The BJP has not yet announced its first list of candidates for the election to the 224-member assembly.
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