Nagpur: Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has dismissed media reports about his retirement from politics as ‘false news’ and clarified that his earlier comments were wrenched out of context.
Addressing reporters on the sidelines of an announcement for the 17th Agrovision agricultural exhibition on Saturday, Gadkari told journalists: “You will keep doing your work, and I will keep doing mine.”
“As I have grown older, I say ‘now call the young people’. But, you publish false news that Gadkari is going to retire,” the Minister quipped.
The speculation began after the Minister spoke at an event at Katol in Nagpur district, organised by the Laxmanrao Mankar Trust, which runs Ekal Vidyalayas in tribal areas.
The 69-year-old Minister, who has been in public life for 30 years, said he could no longer work as hard as he once did and that the younger generation should be given greater responsibility.
Several media outlets and social media users inferred from these remarks that Minister Gadkari was preparing to retire from active politics or quitting his Cabinet post ahead of a potential reshuffle.
Gadkari repeated the point in Nagpur, saying his call for new leadership was about keeping the Trust’s work going for nearly 40,000 tribal students and 1,600 teachers.
The Minister said that passing down guidance to youth is a continuous effort, he assured reporters that just as previous generations passed the baton to them, “you will keep working, and I will keep working. This is your generation, the generation before you was that of the earlier journalists.”
Reflecting on his three decades in public life and post-Covid health changes, Gadkari remarked that he was “no longer able to work as much as he used to” and suggested that “opportunities should be given to the younger generation”.
Earlier, Gadkari’s office issued a clarification saying the remarks had nothing to do with politics and were specifically about the functioning and future leadership of the Mankar Trust.
The Union Minister’s office said some television channels had presented the statement as a political remark, taking it out of its actual context.
(IANS)
