Union minister Uma Bharti on Tuesday announced that she will not contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and instead focus on matters like construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya and the cleanliness of Ganga, PTI reported. The Union minister for drinking water and sanitation, however, clarified that she was not quitting politics.
Bharti’s announcement came days after Union minister Sushma Swaraj said she will not be contesting the General Elections next year.
Bharti said she would set out on a 2,500-km pilgrimage along Ganga on foot from Makar Sankranti in January for one and a half years by “leaving power”. “I believe that one has to go to the banks of the Ganga river by leaving power and I am doing so for next one-and-a-half years,” the Jhansi MP said, according to PTI. “But I will be campaigning and would do politics till my last and that too with energy. I will not do anything for the next one-and-a-half years except [working] for the Ganga and Lord Ram.”
When asked about Swaraj’s announcement, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said she had spoken about not contesting two years ago. “Sushmaji has said it now. Do not link both these things which are same, but the time and reasons are different,” she said.
In February this year, Bharti had spoken about her health problems. “I am suffering from knee and back problems, and to recover, I will take some rest. I will not fight elections for the next three years,” she had then said, according to the Hindustan Times.
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