Thiruvananthapuram: Former minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar retracted a tweet that mistakenly announced his retirement from public service after 18 years. The tweet, which caused considerable confusion, was reportedly posted by a young intern, as Chandrasekhar later explained.

The now-deleted tweet read: “Today, curtains down on my 18-year stint of public service, of which 3 years I had the privilege to serve with PM Narendra Modi and TeamModi2.0. I certainly didn’t intend to end my 18 years of public service as a candidate who lost an election, but that’s how it turned out. My deepest thanks to all those I met, all those who supported me – and in particular all those karyakartas and leaders who so inspired and energized me. Thanks also to my colleagues in government over the last 3 years. As a BJP karyakarta, I will continue to support and work in the party.”

To clear up the ensuing confusion, Chandrasekhar issued a new statement: “Today marks the end of my 18 years long stint as an MP and my 3 years as Minister of State in the Council of Ministers under Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji. A tweet – tweeted by a new young intern in my team – thanking everyone for their inspiration and support during these 18 years of public service as MP, has created some confusion among a section of people about my future political work. In order to avoid any further complexities on this, the tweet stands deleted.”

Chandrasekhar recently faced a close electoral defeat to Congress’s three-time MP Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram, with Tharoor winning by a margin of 16,077 votes.