Was told not to contest: BJP’s M M Joshi says in unsigned message

New Delhi, Mar 26: Murli Manohar Joshi, sitting member of parliament from Kanpur, has been told that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah do not want him to stand for election again.

The buzz comes days after another BJP veteran, LK Advani, was not fielded from the Gandhinagar seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Instead, the party announced the candidature of Amit Shah from the Gujarat capital. Advani has won from the Gandhinagar seat six times.

In a statement to CNN-News18, Joshi said he was asked by party general secretary Ramlal to not contest the elections.

A message doing the rounds on social media, reportedly by Joshi to the voters of Kanpur, also mentioned that he had been asked to stay out of the poll fray.

In a unsigned message to the voters of Kanpur, Joshi has reportedly said that, "Shri Ramlal General Secretary (Organisation) BJP conveyed to me today that I should not contest the ensuing parliamentary election from Kanpur and elsewhere."

Meanwhile, the BJP's list of star campaigners includes PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti. Names of LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are missing from the list 40 star campaigners.

Joshi is currently a member of Parliament from the Kanpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. From 2009 to 2014, he was an MP from the Varanasi constituency, which was from where PM Narendra Modi subsequently contested.