Senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti said she has not quit politics and will contest the upcoming elections.
In a public meeting in Sagar district of Bundelkhand district of Madhya Pradesh on Monday, he said that he is taking a break of only five years as he has been working for a long time.
"I refused to participate in the elections (last time) because I had been working for a long time. I thought of taking a five-year break. People thought I had left politics, but I am tired of saying that I have not left politics, he said. Referring to several development works, including the Ken-Betwa river-linking project and the Lalitpur-Singraul railway line, Bharti said these projects became a reality because he was in politics.

"Whether I reach 75 or 85, I will remain active in politics and participate in the next election. I like politics a lot, said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader.
He said that politics is being ruined by those who see it as a source of luxury.
Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are scheduled to be held in November this year, while Lok Sabha elections are scheduled for next year. Bharti last contested the Lok Sabha elections from Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) in 2014 and after her victory, she became a minister in the BJP government at the Center led by Union Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier this month, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Bharti expressed her displeasure at not being invited to the BJP's Jan Ashirwad Yatra, launched by party president JP Nadda on September 3.
Earlier, Bharti had also campaigned for a strict liquor policy in the state and pelted stones at some liquor shops in protest.

The former Union minister also staged protests outside several liquor shops in Bhopal, Orchha, and Chhindwara during this rally. He was also at the temple to protest against the change in the alcohol policy. In the last week of August, Prime Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inducted Bharti's nephew Rahul Singh Lodhi, MLA from Kharagpur (Tikamgarh district), into his cabinet as foreign minister during its expansion.