Daughter Praniti to contest Lok Sabha polls, not me, says Sushil Kumar Shinde

Sushil Kumar Shinde, 83, announced his exit from electoral politics in Solapur and declared that his daughter Praniti Shinde will fight the next election

MUMBAI: Former union home minister and senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday announced his exit from electoral politics ahead of the 2024 national elections, declaring that his daughter Praniti Shinde would replace him.

Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter, Praniti Shinde, ia a three-time Congress MLA from Solapur city central assembly segment (Kunal Patil/HT File Photo)

“I am publicly saying that Praniti Tai (Shinde) will contest for Lok Sabha elections (Solapur Lok Sabha constituency). I am more like a retired person and trying to help wherever required,” said the 83-year-old veteran politician, who joined politics in the early seventies.

Daughter Praniti Shinde, 42, is a three-time legislator from Solapur city central assembly seat.

Shinde had announced planned to make way for his daughter after the 2014 elections and told the electorate during the campaigning that it was his last election. He lost the Solapur seat in the 2014 Modi wave and decided to give it another shot in 2019. But he lost the seat again in a triangular fight to Jaisidhesvar Swami of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Shinde, a three-term MP from Solapur Lok Sabha seat, was Maharashtra chief minister for a brief period during January 2003 and November 2004. He was appointed as Andhra Pradesh governor as soon as he stepped down and continued in the post till 2006 when he was inducted into the Union Cabinet. He was the country’s power minister in the Manmohan Singh government and was later assigned the home ministry in 2012 after P Chidambaram, who was brought in as home minister in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, moved back to the finance ministry.