Senior UP BJP leader says he won't contest LS polls

After union minister Uma Bharti, another senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra on Thursday expressed his unwillingness to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Mishra, who was a sitting MP from Deoria LS seat in Uttar Pradesh, said that he had apprised the party leadership of his desire.

''I have many other commitments....I have to campaign in other states besides discharging my responsibilities as the in-charge of Haryana,'' he said.

Mishra, a senior 'Brahmin' leader from eastern UP, said that he would not be able to devote time for Deoria given his preoccupation with other responsibilities.

Mishra had been elected from Deoria in 2014 LS polls and had been a minister in the union cabinet. He had resigned ahead of the cabinet reshuffle in 2017.

It was being speculated that Mishra, 78, would not be renominated owing to his being over 75. Prime minister Narendra Modi's praise of Mishra during a public meeting at Gorakhpur a few days back, however, fueled speculations that he might get the ticket again.

Some local BJP leaders in Deoria, however, had openly said that Mishra should not be renominated and that some local leader should be given the party ticket. Mishra hails from Ghazipur district.

Earlier Uma Bharti, a sitting BJP MP from Jhansi, had also expressed her unwillingness to contest the polls.