New Delhi:  Union Minister Uma Bharti was appointed as the BJP Vice-President, days after she decided against contesting the Lok Sabha elections to go on a pilgrimage along the Ganga.

Bharti, a 59-year-old Parliamentarian from Jhansi, had said that she would not contest the upcoming elections in favour of undertaking an 18-month-long pilgrimage. “I had announced this way back in 2016. If I had to fight, I would have contested from Jhansi. I can never change my constituency. People there are proud of me, and they consider me like their own daughter,” news agencies quoted her as saying. The Union Minister, however, promised to campaign for the BJP until May.

She expressed her wish to continue being involved in politics for the rest of her life. “Like I had announced earlier, I am repeating myself to say that I have written to party President Amit Shah to tell him about my request to not contest the elections, so that the party can make the announcement accordingly,” Uma Bharti tweeted.

Uma Bharti won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi. She is a Cabinet Minister in the Narendra Modi Government and holds the portfolio of Drinking Water and Sanitation. Uma Bharti, who is known as a firebrand Hindutva leader, also served as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for a brief period. Union Minister Sushma Swaraj had also expressed her wish to refrain from contesting the Lok Sabha elections on grounds of ill-health.