Mathura: BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti today (Sep 22, 2004) declared that she would quit politics after the Tiranga Yatra.

"Politics is increasingly becoming petty... I have realised that posts are not as important as campaigns for public awakening," she said at a public meeting in Mathura as part of her Tiranga Yatra from Hubli to Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar.

However, she would continue with such "public awakening" campaigns.

Bharti said she would meditate for a few days in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh and embark on another Yatra "which will not be political."

The surprise announcement by the feisty 'sanyasin' politician, already at the centre of a controversy over her reported displeasure at the party's "lack of support" for the Yatra, took several veteran BJP leaders including former Union Ministers Ananth Kumar, Shahnawaz Hussain and Uttar Pradesh State unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi off guard.

Her announcement also comes in the midst of reports that there has been an intense struggle among the second rung leaders in BJP for claiming leadership of the party.

Bharti's declaration triggered immediate response from party activists who made repeated pleas to revoke her decision. An unrelenting Bharti however managed to pacify them.