New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir on Saturday said that he has requested party national president JP Nadda to relieve him of political duties. Taking to X, Gambhir said he wants to focus on cricket commitments.
“I have requested Hon’ble Party President JP Nadda ji to relieve me of my political duties so that I can focus on my upcoming cricket commitments. I sincerely thank Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi ji and Hon’ble HM Amit Shah ji for giving me the opportunity to serve the people. Jai Hind!,” Gambhir said in a post on X on Saturday morning.
The development comes amid speculations that the BJP is going to replace some of the seven sitting MPs in Delhi with new faces for the upcoming general elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had replaced two sitting Delhi MPs from North West and East.
The former cricketer joined the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and was fielded from the East Delhi Lok Sabha seat from where he won with more than 55 per cent of votes, defeating his closest rival and Congress candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely.
It is, however, not clear if Gambhir is quitting politics.
At least two people in the Delhi BJP said that the party is likely to release its first list of candidates soon which may contain the names of candidates for the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats. All seven seats are currently with the BJP. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are the two other key political parties in Delhi in the fray.
The AAP and Congress have announced that they will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election together on all seven seats, with AAP contesting four and Congress contesting three seats. AAP has already announced candidates for four seats and Congress is also likely to announce candidates soon.
