E Valsaraj had lost to Independent candidate N Ramachandran in 2016 (File)
Senior Congress leader and former Puducherry Health Minister E Valsaraj today announced that he will not contest the forthcoming Assembly polls in the Union Territory as he wanted to give opportunity to the young.
The former MLA from Mahe, however, said he will remain in the party which is a "mass-based political outfit".
"I wanted to give opportunity for youth to jump into the poll fray and hence decided to retire from poll battle," the vice-president of Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee told reporters at the party office.
Mr Valsaraj had won the lone Assembly seat in Mahe, an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala, every time since his maiden victory in 1990 and lost from the constituency in the 2016 polls.
"I have been Health Minister of Puducherry whenever Congress formed the government in the past and I have been able to ensure development of Puducherry as a whole," he said, adding that the government medical college and a maternity hospital were planned and designed by him.
Mr Valsaraj said he had informed the party high command about his decision to stay away from electoral battle.
He further said that he had intended to stay away from contesting the polls in 2016 but was persuaded by the party against it.
The Congress leader had lost to Independent candidate N Ramachandran in 2016.
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