By P K Gupta
At a time when septuagenarian leaders are jostling to get tickets in the election, a 76 year old six MLA from Gudhamalani (Barmer), forest minister Hemaram Choudhary has shown desire for not contesting this election.
Unlike other senior leaders who push for candidature of their kith and kin, Choudhary has proposed the party leadership to give reins in the hands of young eligible candidate without recommending anyone. Choudhary's son Virendra Singh had died eight years ago. He has a daughter Sunita Choudhary who is also active in social work.t
In a letter written to Congress national president Kharge, he has requested him to give ticket to young face in place of him from Gudhamalani. The sitting MLA of Barmer is still the best bet for Congress in Gudhamalani and his supporters are putting pressure on him to contest for the last time.
But Hemaram Choudhary has been reiterating his desire to retire from active politics and handover the baton to younger generation.
Choudhary has been showing his intention of not contesting elections since 2008, 2013 and 2018 elections. But on each t occasion party persuaded him to contest.
“In 2013, Choudhary went to Ahmedabad to avoid elections but Rahul Gandhi called him up and persuaded him to contest. Then in 2018, he has made up his mind not to contest. That time Sachin Pilot pressurised him to contest,” said Manglaram Choudhary, a close associate of Hemaram Choudhary.
In October 17, Hemaram's supporters organised a meeting and put pressure on him to contest once again then Hemaram point blank refused to contest and threatened to observe fast unto death.
The Congress has given tickets to many septuagenerian tickets in this elections including Ashok Gehlot (72), Gurmeet Singh Kooner (75) and B D Kalla (74) among few others in the list of 76 candidates announced so far.
Gehlot is lobbying hard to get ticket for Shanti Dhariwal also who is at edge of entering 80 years.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
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