BJP MP Varun Gandhi may not have been very visible in the campaign for about-to-be-concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, but the young MP is definitely out to prove a point to his party in these elections.
Hailed as a youth icon and a star campaigner of the BJP, Mr Gandhi was highly in demand by the candidates to campaign but he chose to stay away from the entire state and concentrated on his own constituency, Pilibhit, and Aonla which is represented by his mother Maneka Gandhi.
Since the past one month, Mr Gandhi has been almost camping in Pilibhit and Aonla and visiting the deepest nooks and corners of the constituency, meeting people and urging them to vote for the BJP.
“He did not campaign so vigorously in his own Lok Sabha elections as he did this time. He did not address big rallies or rake up controversies with his statements but silently campaigned for the party,” said a supporter.
According to sources close to the BJP MP, Mr Gandhi apparently wanted to prove his worth to the party before he moves on to a larger canvas. “Some senior leaders in the party are apparently wary of Varun’s growing popularity and keep trying to pull him down. Varun, it seems, wants to prove his capability before this section of leaders before he spreads his wings. There was a huge demand for his campaign in the state, right up to the farthest corner in Ballia, but he politely declined. Besides, we realize that he also wants to fortify his political base before he takes on rivals inside and outside the party,” explained a senior BJP functionary in Lucknow.