"BJP asked me not to contest Lok Sabha elections", Murli Manohar Joshi writes to voters

Joshi wrote in the letter that BJP general secretary Ramlal has asked him to stay out of the electoral battle in his constituency Kanpur and elsewhere.

By : ABP News Bureau | Updated at : 26 Mar 2019 11:23 AM (IST)

BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi/ Image: PTI

The BJP stalwart on Tuesday announced that he has been asked by the party to not contest in the upcoming parliamentary polls

He said he has been asked by BJP general secretary Ramlal to stay out of fray in Kanpur and elsewhere.

He was a sitting MP from Varanasi but vacated that seat for Modi in 2014 elections. He then contested from Kanpur and won from the constituency.

New Delhi: Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi will not be contesting upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019. The BJP stalwart on Tuesday announced that he has been asked by the party to not contest in the upcoming parliamentary polls. Joshi made the announcement in a letter addressed to the voters in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He wrote in the letter that BJP general secretary Ramlal has asked him to stay out of the electoral battle in his constituency Kanpur and elsewhere “Dear voters of Kanpur”, the letter begins with an address to the people of Kanpur. “Shri Ramlal General Secretary (org) Bharatiya Janata Party conveyed to me today that I should not contest the ensuing parliamentary election from Kanpur and elsewhere.” This comes days after veteran politician LK Advani was not fielded by BJP in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, from where he had been continuously winning. Murli Manohar Joshi won the 2014 general elections from Kanpur. The veteran politician presided over the Bharatiya Janata Party between 1991 and 1993.

जोशी जी कहते हैं रामलाल ने उन्हें बताया कि वे कानपुर से इस बार चुनाव नहीं लड़ पायेंगे pic.twitter.com/WdmhOkbEJn
— Pankaj Jha (@pankajjha_) March 26, 2019

Joshi has a splendid political streak. He was an MP from Allahabad for three terms before he was defeated in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. He then won election to the 15th Lok Sabha from Varanasi as a BJP candidate in 2009. He was a sitting MP from Varanasi but vacated that seat for Narendra Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. He then contested from Kanpur and won from the constituency by a margin of 2.23 lac votes. It, however, remains to be seen if the former Union minister, who along with former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, was seen as BJP's face for more than two decades, will reconcile to the decision or not. Joshi heads Parliament's Estimates Committee and some of its observations, including on jobs, the GDP and non-performing assets, embarrassed the government. BJP leaders said the party has taken a "principled decision" that veterans should make the way for younger leaders. The BJP has also not given tickets to likes of B C Khanduri, Kariya Munda, Kalraj Mishra, Bijoya Chakravarty - all many term MPs and over 80 years of age - besides Advani (91).