Returned to India with 'idea of service', up to BJP if it wants me to contest polls: Shaurya Doval

New Delhi: BJP leader Shaurya Doval has said he has never expressed desire to contest elections but is open to the idea if the party decides to field him. The banker-turned-political thinker said he came back to India from the UK in 2009 to set up his organisation India Foundation and with the "idea of service".

Asked whether he has not got a chance in electoral politics as his father Ajit Doval is the National Security Advisor, he, in a lighter vein, said that "it could be because of my father but obviously I haven't got a ticket, and that is why I am not fighting elections".

In an interaction with PTI editors at the agency's headquarters here, Doval, who is a member of the BJP's Uttarakhand state executive committee, said he has never asked the party for a ticket to contest polls.

"When I came in this game, I did not come with a politics view. I came back to India in 2009 to set up India Foundation. I was told to go to Uttarakhand in 2018-19 by the party, so ultimately it is party's call...you cannot take these decisions," he said to a question about when he would be making his electoral debut.

"Usually the culture is you root for yourself but this culture is less in BJP than other parties. They have their analysis of which person is better for which task, there can be many reasons...may be I am not a good politician or may be they are waiting for appropriate time or may be there are better people than me and I have been kept for other tasks. I have not asked any reasons," Doval said.

The BJP leader said he has never expressed desire to contest elections but is open to the idea to fight polls if the party asks him to.

"Fortunately I have had a great career and my career aspirations or desire of being at the peak was met at an early age. I was 20 when I was a Delhi University topper, I was a chartered accountant at 23, at 26, I was on Wall Street, so I have done that," he said.

"When I actually came to work for India Foundation, I came with the idea of service. I didn't want anything back from it. I have had a reasonably good career which gives me all kinds of perks, strokes, ego gratification that I want. It is a matter of service for me. Politics can be a big instrument of change but I do not see it as a career move. I enjoy what I do but if party thinks at sometime...may be 10 years ago I would have said no, I would have been afraid of it but today I am less afraid," he added.

Doval studied at Delhi University's Hindu College. He completed his MBA from the London Business School and University of Chicago. He left his investment banking job and came back to India in 2009 to set up the India Foundation.