Congress leader and former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das said here on Wednesday that he would not fight Lok Sabha elections anymore.
“I will not contest the Lok Sabha polls. I am not sure about Assembly elections, but, I have no interest in it. I have a desire to fight as a Gandhian or a preacher of nonviolence,” said Das.
He made the announcement during the party’s Padayatara here on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Asked why he has taken such a decision, he said, “I have contested the Lok Sabha polls nine times from Kalahandi and won three. Now, I want new faces to get chance in elections.”
Das said he would continue to support to the Congress. But he hinted to support a move for formation of a separate Kosal State.
“The KBK and western Odisha are neglected regions till date. We demand for an autonomous development council in KBK like Gorkha land. The ongoing protest for formation of Kosal State is the outcome of the State’s negligence towards the western region. The regional differences will not exist if a mini capital having a separate building for Assembly and Secretariat and one for a High Court are established in western Odisha. Or else, the protest will be intensified in upcoming days,” Das said. Notably, Das had unsuccessfully fought from the Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 elections. His BJP rival Basant Kumar Panda won the seat.