Days after Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj announced to remain away from Lok Sabha polls on health grounds, her cabinet colleague and the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti here on Tuesday said she would not contest Lok Sabha polls next year and would focus on the Ram temple issue.
Earlier in February this year, Bharti had announced to take three year gap from active politics over health issues.
While talking to media persons here, she said, "I would remain in politics all through my life but won't contest Lok Sabha poll next year." Presently the former MP Chief Minister Bharti is an MP from Jhansi in UP.
She told that a positive atmosphere should be created for bringing an ordinance on the Ram temple construction at Ayodhya and blamed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for vitiating the atmosphere.
The BJP leader, who rose to prominence during the Ram Janmbahoomi movement in the 90s, said the Ram temple issue should be discussed with all political parties.
"This (Ram temple) matter should be discussed with all political parties as court said that it (construction of the temple) is a matter of a dispute of land and not a dispute of faith," she said.
The firebrand BJP leader affirmed the struggle for construction of Ram temple would continue. BJP would win the assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan would become Chief Minister for the fourth time, she opined.
Despite being at odds with CM Shivraj, Bharti was named among party's star campaigners in the just concluded election campaign in MP. Bharti was among the prominent faces who had actively participated in Ram Janmbhoomi andolan in 1990s.