When the 16th Lok Sabha is convened after the general elections, it will miss out on one of the most active parliamentarians in the Left contingent – senior CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta – who has decided to hang up his boots after a long career as a parliamentarian.

Dasgupta, a former representative of the Ghatal constituency in West Bengal, will not contest the Lok Sabha polls.

He said, “I am too old and I want to leave the space for youngsters as the country belongs to young people.”

The 78-year-old leader was a parliamentarian for 25 years; first as a Rajya Sabha member for three terms in 1985, 1988 and 1994, and again for two terms in 2004 and 2009. In his time as a parliamentarian, Dasgupta built a reputation for raising several public interest issues.

Having had his share of limelight both inside Parliament as well as outside, Dasgupta told Deccan Herald: “Whether I am in Parliament or not, I will continue to raises these issues in public forums.”

Dasgupta was a voice of dissent against Reliance Industries on the under production of gas in the KG Basin, when most political parties and MPs were silent on the issue.

“I raised the KG basin issue before the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal took it up. I am happy that the issue became a hot debate in public domain, and hope the government will take action to recovery the penalty money from the oil firm”.