Former Minister and BJP MP representing Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka V. Srinivas Prasad said on August 6 that he would stay away from electoral politics in future.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the launch of a book he has authored on his 47-year-long political career to mark his 75th birthday, Mr. Prasad said he will complete the remaining three years of the tenure of the current Lok Sabha, but will not return to the fray in the next elections.
He will complete 50 years in electoral politics when the term of the current Lok Sabha ends in 2024. The veteran politician pointed out that he had contested 14 elections.
He had decided to retire from electoral politics after losing the by-poll to Nanjangud Assembly constituency in 2017, but returned to the poll fray in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
After being dropped from the Siddaramaiah Cabinet in June 2016, Mr. Prasad joined the BJP and contested the by-poll to Nanjangud. On losing the battle, he announced his retirement from electoral politics. However, he came under pressure to contest the subsequent Lok Sabha polls from Chamarajanagar in 2019 as a BJP candidate, and won.
“I would have retired after my 12th election had I been allowed to complete my term as the Revenue Minister. I have analysed the reasons that compelled me to contest two more elections in the book,” he said.
The book has dealt with the challenges he faced in his political career. “Though George Bernard Shaw has described politics as the last resort of the scoundrel, I have shown how I see politics as a social commitment,” Mr. Prasad said.
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