Mangaluru: Ramanatha Rai hangs up his boots‘No more electoral politics for me’, he declared

Mangaluru : Senior politician and six-times MLA from Buntwal assembly constituency in Dakshina Kannada district B Ramanatha Rai has announced retirement from electoral politics after being in public life for over3 decades, he faced defeat at the hands of the BJP twice -in 2018 and 2023.

Announcing this in a press conference here today Ramanatha Rai said that even “It does not matter that I have lost two times, I will be at the forefront of party organization and activities. Although our party suffered a slight setback in the district, we formed the government in the state. He said that he will always work for the people as he has done in the past.

Ramanatha Rai said that we will introspect about the defeat in the election, this time the margin of my defeat is less, We in the Congress party are confident that the voters will be favourable to Congress in the coming elections. Rai said that he is confident that the Congress will get more seats in the district in Lok Sabha elections, followed by Taluk Panchayat and Grama Panchayat elections.

Rai had announced before this election that, this would be his last election and had appealed to the voters on many occasions striking a sentimental chord, However, the voters of Bantwal did not support him. Had he won, then it was certain that he would get the highest level ministerial position in the Congress government this time.

Known as an honest politician, Ramanath Rai has been involved in active politics for the past 3 decades. Although he contested the elections from the Buntwal constituency seven times, he was defeated three times. Ramanath Rai, who held an influential ministerial post in various governments, had not been accused of corruption till now. Ramanatha Rai, who worked continuously for the development of the Buntwal constituency, during his tenure as an MLA, brought a lot of grants and worked hard for the development of the constituency. Ramanath Rai is also known by the BJP in the district as an honest politician without development and corruption. Ramanatha Rai, has served as cabinet minister holding portfolios of Home, Transport and Forest and was the district incharge minister for four times. One slight disadvantage he had was that he got into a tiff with the Sri Rama School at Kalladka run by the RSS Chief in the district and alleged to have stopped the supply of rice for the RSS-driven school children’s mid-day meal scheme which had unleashed the Hindutva activists on him. This incident has been used by the BJP to depict him in bad light.