Thiruvananthapuram: Former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday sprang a surprise on netizens when he announced it was "curtains down on his 18-year stint of public service", only to retract the post later and give a clarification that he only meant to bid farewell to his time as a parliamentarian and minister.

Earlier, in a post on X, the BJP leader said it was curtains down on his 18-year stint of public service, of which he had the privilege of serving with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for three years at the Centre during the NDA government's second term. "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 govt over last 3 years," he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Later, Rajeev retracted the post and called it a confusion caused by a "new young intern" of his team. 
"Today marks the end of my 18-year 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. My work and commitment to taking India forward and Thiruvananthapuram, as a karyakarta of BJP remains as relentless as before. Thank you all who replied, messaged and called," stated the clarification post.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar was the BJP's candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in the 18th General Elections. Despite putting up a tough fight, he lost to UDF candidate Shashi Tharoor by over 16,000 votes. 

The technocrat formerly served as the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and the Ministry of Jal Shakti. From 2006 to 2024, he was a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka.