Chairman of the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party Narayanman Bijukchhe has said he will not compete in any election in the future.

Talking to the RSS in Bhaktapur on Friday, he said the party had handed the responsibility of running the party to the young generation.

Bijukchhe did not file his candidacy on Thursday for the upcoming elections to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies. “There is no situation to be surprised at my decision. It does not mean I have taken retirement from politics,” he said.

“I’m 70. I may have started losing my memory. My focus will be on taking the party ahead.” Stating that his decision to skip the election would not discourage voters, he said they would vote for the party, barring some who might go for the candidate.

Bijukchhe, however, will remain active in politics as the party chairman, he said during an interaction organised in Bhaktapur by the Rafat Sanchar Club.

Promising to play an active role in politics to make the leftist ideology stronger, he criticised the left alliance of the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) as an outcome of the parties’ love for power.