KN Rajanna: I won’t contest polls again
He said that he did not need power to serve the people. \"It is wrong to assume that power is needed to serve the people,\" he added.
TUMAKURU: Former Madhugiri Congress MLA K.N. Rajanna said on Sunday that he would not contest assembly elections again.
Addressing the media here, he said: "I am 69 now and I don't have enough energy to move about in my constituency."
He said that he did not need power to serve the people. "It is wrong to assume that power is needed to serve the people," he added.
Along with former Tumakuru MP Muddahanume Gowda, Rajanna had rebelled against the Congress leadership and filed his nomination papers to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Tumakuru.
Rajanna was averse to the Congress party's decision to concede the Tumakuru Lok Sabha seat to the Janata Dal (Secular) where that party's chief and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda was made the coalition's candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party’s G.S. Basavaraju. On the insistence of Congress leaders, Muddahanume Gowda and Rajanna later withdrew from the fray.
Rajanna drew criticism for the loss of Deve Gowda in the LS elections from Tumakuru and he was accused of not working for the victory of JD(S) chief. The Tumakuru District Congress Committee had recommended to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) to take action against Rajanna.