Adding fuel to the speculations around the delay by the Bharatiya Janata Party in releasing its first list of candidates the May 10 elections, senior Karnataka BJP leader K S Eshwarappa on Tuesday announced that he will not contest the upcoming polls.
In a letter to party president J P Nadda written in Kannada, the veteran legislator and former deputy chief minister said that the decision was out of his own will.
“The party gave me a lot of responsibilities in the last 40 years. I went from a booth in-charge to state party chief. I also had the honour of becoming Deputy Chief Minister,” he wrote.
Eshwarappa would turn 75 in June, the unofficial age bar in the BJP for leaders to contest polls and hold official positions, although there have been occasional exceptions.
The BJP has not yet announced its first list of candidates for the election to the 224-member assembly. Notably, the nominations close on Thursday.
Eshwarappa has been accused in a case of alleged suicide by a Belagavi-based government contractor named Santosh Patil who died on April 12 last year. The deceased, who was found dead at a hotel in Udupi on Tuesday, weeks after accusing Eshwarappa of corruption, in his alleged suicide note had named the minister.
The contractor alleged that Eshwarappa demanded a “40 per cent cut money” to clear a four crore bill.
Police later cleared him of the charges due to “lack of evidence”.