Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS): In a Dassehra Day shocker, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nilesh N. Rane has announced that he is “permanently stepping aside from active politics”, here on Tuesday.

Nilesh, 42, is the son of Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane and brother of Kankavali MLA Nitesh Rane, all hailing from Sindhudurg in the coastal Konkan.

“I am permanently stepping aside from active politics, no longer interested in politics, for no other reason… I am no longer interested in contesting elections, etc.” he said in a cryptic X post on Tuesday.

The BJP leader expressed gratitude to all his supporters who gave him so much love in the last nearly two decades, and “for sticking with me when there was no reason”.

Nilesh said he was lucky to get so much affection and opportunity to work in a great organisation like the BJP.

“I am a small man but I learnt a lot in politics and some colleagues have become a family forever… I will always be indebted to them in life,” he acknowledged.

He said critics will criticise but he wouldn’t waste his time or others where it did not suit his heart and without naming, said “I apologise for unintentionally offending some people”.

The older son of ex-CM of Maharashtra, Narayan Rane, Nilesh had contested and won the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket in 2009, but lost to Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Vinayak Raut in his second attempt in 2014.