UMA Bharati Says She Will Not Contest 2019 LS Poll But Not Quitting BJP

UNION Cabinet Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharati has announced not to contest the next Lok Sabha elections. The senior BJP leader said she will concentrate on the issues related to construction Ram temple in his birth place in Ayodhya and cleanliness of the River Ganga for the next one-and-a half years. Bharti said she would “embark on a pilgrimage to devote time to Ganga River and Lord Ram by leaving power”. She, however, made it clear that she was not quitting politics. Earlier External Affairs Minister Swaraj, who represents Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, had announced that she will not contest the coming Lok Sabha poll due to health reasons.”Do no link my decision  with that of Sushma  Swaraj since the time and reasons are different”.Bharti, a pioneer of the Ramjanam Bhoomi Movement, said  she would set out on a 2,500-km yatra (pilgrimage) along the Ganga river on foot from Makar Sankranti in January next year for nearly 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. But I will be campaigning and would do politics till my last and that too with energy,” Bharti, 59, was interacting with reporters at her official residence.”I will not do anything for the next one-and-a-half years except (working) for the Ganga and Lord Ram,” she said. The saffron leader clarified that she is not retiring from politics.”I am not taking ‘sanyas’ (from politics). ‘Sanyas’ is a different thing. I will do politics till my last breathe remaining in BJP, said the spinster from Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh.