Even Milkha Singh stopped: Sushma Swaraj's husband on her decision to not contest 2019 elections

BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj today announced that she won't contest the 2019 elections due to health issues.

file photo of EAM Sushma Swaraj and her husband

NEW DELHI: Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's husband Swaraj Kaushal has thanked her for deciding not to contest the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections due to health issues and compared it to ace athlete Milkha Singh's decision to hang up his boots. 

Swaraj Kaushal, a former Governor and noted lawyer, took to Twitter and said, ''Madam - Thank you very much for your decision not to contest any more elections. I remember there came a time when even Milkha Singh stopped running.''

Madam - Thank you very much for your decision not to contest any more elections. I remember there came a time when even Milkha Singh stopped running. @sushmaswaraj

— Governor Swaraj (@governorswaraj) November 20, 2018

Kaushal's response came shortly after the veteran BJP leader announced that she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2019. 

Speaking at a rally in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, the 66-year-old said, "It is the party which decides, but I have made up my mind not to contest next elections."

Swaraj, a Lok Sabha member from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, is one of the senior-most leaders of the BJP.

She also rubbished all talks of BJP facing anti-incumbency in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls and praised the good governance under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

In December 2016, Swaraj successfully underwent a kidney transplant at AIIMS in the national capital.

Several reports claimed that Swaraj took the decision over health concerns. 

A former Supreme Court lawyer, Swaraj is a seven-time MP and three-time MLA.

At the age of 25 in 1977, she became the youngest cabinet minister of the north Indian state of Haryana. She also became the Delhi Chief Minister for a brief period in 1998.