Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP national general secretary, will not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections 2019. The party leader made public his decision in a series of tweets on Wednesday.
Vijayvargiya was considered a strong contender from the Indore parliamentary constituency in Madhya Pradesh.
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In his tweets, the 62-year-old Vijayvargiya said that his focus is ensuring the victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for which he has to work in West Bengal.
Vijayvargiya said that the party has a “huge and challenging target” of ensuring BJP’s victory in as many seats in West Bengal as possible.
“People of Indore, activists and well wishers of the country want me to contest the elections. But we all need to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for making India prosperous and rich,” Vijayvargiya tweeted.
“The people of West Bengal are with Modi. I have to live in Bengal, so I have decided not to contest the elections.”
Vijayvargiya was made the BJP leader for West Bengal in 2015. He has since worked at ensuring the rise of BJP in the state.
Indore is the parliamentary constituency of BJP leader and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who has remained undefeated from the seat since 1989. Mahajan has already announced her decision not to contest the Lok Sabha elections this year.
Other prominent BJP leaders who decided not to contest in 2019 elections include External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Union minister Uma Bharati. The BJP did not field veterans LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi from any constituency.
