Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday said there is no rule in the party mandating that a person must retire at 75, and it is the people of the country who would decide Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure.
He dismissed Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut's claim that Modi visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur to inform that he was retiring, calling the statement a "political stunt".
"There is no rule in the BJP that Modi should retire from politics after 75, nor has there been any such decision," Bawankule said on X, a day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis rubbished Raut's claim.
Bawankule further noted that the Indian Constitution too does not impose any such restrictions.
"Former BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee served as prime minister till the age of 79, while Morarji Desai (83) and Dr Manmohan Singh (81) also held the position beyond the age of 75. However, Raut, blinded by his animosity towards the BJP, seems to have forgotten this," he said.
In Indian democracy, a prime minister's tenure is determined by electoral mandate and public support, not by individuals like Raut, Bawankule said.
"The people of this country decide Modi ji's tenure as Prime Minister, not Sanjay Raut or the opposition," he added.
Modi had resolved to make India a developed nation by 2047 and "this vision will be realised under his leadership," the BJP leader said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had on Monday asserted that Modi -- who is in his third term as PM and will turn 75 in September this year -- would continue to lead the country beyond 2029.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
