External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Tuesday that she would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election and the BJP leadership had been informed of her decision.
“It is the party which decides, but I have made up my mind not to contest the next election,” she told reporters on the sidelines of a campaign event in Indore for the Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh.
Ms. Swaraj’s close aides said her decision was based on “health reasons.”
Ms. Swaraj is a Lok Sabha member from Vidisha in the State. She had also served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha during UPA-II.
Her announcement came in response to questions on her diminished activity.
‘I skipped only election meetings’
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s announcement in Indore that she would not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election came when she was reacting to questions on her diminished political activity following her kidney-related illness and replacement surgery. “I have not been active for a year because of a kidney condition. You can’t judge whether I am active based on whether I have attended election meetings or not. Today, L.K. Advani comes to all meetings, blesses us, sits in Parliament. To say that I am not active just because I didn’t attend election meetings for a year... if you think that means I should be out of politics, it is unfair,” she said.
Her husband, Swaraj Kaushal, added a piquant note, by thanking his wife for the announcement. “At some point, even [the athlete] Milkha Singh had to stop running,” he tweeted.
