Varun Gandhi blows poll bugle; invokes father, attacks cousin Rahul Gandhi

LUCKNOW: Not yet named a candidate from Sultanpur, BJP's Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi launched his election campaign from the "VIP" district on Tuesday, recalling his father Sanjay Gandhi and questioning the extraordinary attention being lavished on Amethi without taking cousin Rahul Gandhi's name. Varun is likely to contest from Sultanpur this time.

"Years ago, my father (Sanjay Gandhi) began his political journey by offering prayers at the nearby Bijuthua Hanuman Temple and giving a speech here. He dreamt of working for you all but died young," Varun said at Kadipur Junior High School ground after a visit to the same temple. "Now, God has sent the son to fulfill his father's dream," the Gandhi scion said amid lusty cheering from the crowd.

Varun then asked, "Why is work done only in Amethi, Kannauj, Jaswant Nagar and Mainpuri, but not in Sultanpur?" the reference to the Congress vice president was clear, but Varun desisted from naming him. Pitching for his candidacy, he added, "I showed it in Pilibhit where I took up development work."

The swipes were also directed towards the Samajwadi Party which, Varun said, has focused only on seats of its leaders, neglecting other constituencies like Sultanpur. In a masked attack on the erstwhile raja of Amethi Sanjay Singh, Varun said people want their MPs to behave like their brothers and not kings.

"Sultanpur needs a strong voice that can fight for you in New Delhi and Lucknow," Varun said, virtually projecting himself as the BJP candidate. Praising the Sultanpur electorate for its understanding of politics, he said he will take their guidance in future and advocated collective decision as the new political mantra.

Aiming to break away from the deep-rooted caste politics, he suggested people drop their surnames. "What would be a good margin of victory here?" Varun asked. Then he answered. "Five lakh votes? No four lakh would be good else others in the fray would have a heart attack..."

Taking a dig at the Aam Aadmi Party, Varun said, "It's dangerous nowadays to address the common man as aam aadmi. It's better that I call him a saamaanya aadmi (ordinary man) because calling him aam admi will result in a loss of 50,000 votes."