BJP MP Srinivas announces retirement, says will not contest 2024 LS polls

BJP MP and former Union Minister V Srinivas Prasad has announced his retirement from politics, and said he would not be contesting in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

During an election campaign in favour of Gundlupet BJP candidate C S Niranjan Kumar, who will contest the May 10 Assembly election, the 75-year-old said the current term in the Lok Sabha would be his last.

According to sources close to him, the six-time Chamarajnagar MP made the announcement as "there is an unofficial age bar (75 years) in the BJP for leaders to contest in polls or hold official positions".

He quit the Congress in 2016 after being dropped as a minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet and joined the BJP. He resigned from the Assembly seeking a fresh mandate on a BJP ticket but lost the contest.

The veteran MP successfully contested in the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket.