Kharge (81), AICC president and Gowda (90), former prime minister & JDS national president, lost the 2019 LS polls from Kalaburagi and Tumakuru, respectively. They later made their way into the Rajya Sabha. The two leaders are said to have cited their advancing age to not contest the polls.
In February last year, BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa (80) had announced retirement from electoral politics. BJP MPs Srinivasa Prasad (76) and GS Basavaraju (82) too have said they would not contest. It is not known yet if BJP MPs DV Sadananda Gowda (70), Ramesh Jigajinagi (71) and GM Siddeshwara (71) would contest.
The former PM, speaking to media in Bengaluru on Saturday, declared he would not contest the parliamentary election, while saying he still had the spirit to campaign for the BJP-JDS combine. He would campaign for the success of JDS candidates, and in BJP constituencies as well.
Kharge, the tallest political figure from the Kalyan-Karnataka region, was named INDIA bloc’s chairman recently. This would increase his responsibilities to tour and campaign, not only in the constituencies to be contested by the Congress but also in regions of other political allies.
The Congress and his political allies know the AICC president has his own clout among the minority and OBC voters as he has projected himself as a leader who would fight for the interests of these caste groups beyond his own Dalit community. Allies may seek him out to augment their Dalit, Muslim and OBC outreach.
