'Sorry Sushma Swaraj will leave Parliament', tweets Shashi Tharoor, EAM responds
New Delhi: Hours after External Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader on Tuesday declared that she would not contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is active on Twitter, wrote “For all our political differences, I am sorry that @SushmaSwaraj will leave Parliament.”
Tweeting her response, Sushma Swaraj quipped that she wished both continued in their positions.
Thanks for your kind words, Shashi. I wish we both continue in our respective positions. https://t.co/k76S6lzXyc
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) November 20, 2018
At a press meet in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, Union minister Sushma Swaraj declared that she would not contest next year's general elections. She cited health reasons.
Read: Sushma Swaraj won’t contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections, cites health reasons
Soon after, the minister’s husband Swaraj Kaushal tweeted "thank you" and said "even Milkha Singh stopped running at one point".
Also Read: Here's how Sushma Swaraj's husband thanked her for 2019 polls decision
After Sushma Swaraj’s declaration on Tuesday, many appeared to assume that she was retiring from politics but the EAM put out a clarification saying, "... I am not retiring from politics. It is just that I am not contesting the next Lok Sabha election due to my health issues," she tweeted.
Sushma Swaraj has won nine Lok Sabha elections and is the second woman foreign minister after Indira Gandhi.
She was forced to take a break from work for months in 2016 because of her diabetes and kidney failure. She had undergone a kidney transplant.
