Former Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan announced his decision to quit electoral politics on Sunday, a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party announced the first list of candidates for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Vardhan was among the four sitting MPs who were dropped from the BJP’s candidate list for Delhi, the others being Parvesh Verma, Ramesh Bidhuri and Meenakashi Lekhi. Announcing his decision on micro-blogging site X, Vardhan, a doctor by profession, said he is returning to his ENT clinic at Krishna Nagar.
“After over thirty years of a glorious electoral career, during which I won all five assembly and two parliamentary elections that I fought with exemplary margins, and held a multitude of prestigious positions in the party organisation and the governments at the state and centre, I finally bow out to return to my roots,” he said.
The BJP has fielded Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk, a seat that Vardhan holds at present. In a long post, the MP said service to mankind was his motto when he joined MBBS at GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, 50 years ago with a desire to help the poor and needy.
“A swayamsewak at heart, I have always been an ardent admirer of Deen Dayal Upadhyay ji’s Antodaya philosophy of striving to serve the last man in the queue. It was at the insistence of the then RSS leadership that I jumped into the electoral fray,” he said.
Recollecting his tenure as the Delhi health minister and Union health minister twice, Vardhan said it was a great privilege to work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I had the rare opportunity bestowed upon me to be able to first work towards creating a polio-free Bharat and then to take care of the health of millions of our countrymen grappling with the dreaded COVID-19 during its first and second phases”.
“I move on, I really can’t wait. I have promises to keep .. and miles to go before I sleep !! I have a dream .. and I know your blessings shall always remain with me. My ENT clinic at Krishna Nagar too awaits my return,” Vardhan said in the post.
