Chhota Udaipur (Guj), Apr 28 (PTI) Mohansinh Rathwa, the 11-time Congress MLA from Chhota Udaipur in Gujarat, on Thursday announced that he will not contest the next assembly elections which are due by the end of this year.
It was time for a young person to replace him, said the 78-year-old leader from the tribal community.
“After winning election for 11 terms, I am of the opinion that the youth should get the chance to represent this seat. I will not fight the next assembly elections,” Rathwa told reporters.
“Every party should think on these lines and give more and more tickets to youngsters,” he added.
The veteran leader is not keeping well of late, said Congress sources.
Rathwa, a very popular tribal leader, was a minister in the Congress government from 1990 to 95.
He was first elected from the Chhota Udaipur seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribes, in 1972.
He lost an assembly election only once. In 2002, when the elections were held against the backdrop of the Godhra riots, he lost to a BJP candidate.
He won in the next elections, but his margin of victory shrank steadily. In 2012 he won by over 2,500 votes against BJP’s Gulabsinh Rathwa, while in 2017 he won against BJP’s Arjun Rathwa by over 1,000 votes.
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