Speculation in political circles that after being denied party nomination from Pilibhit, the BJP could consider fielding Feroze Varun Gandhi against his cousin, Priyanka Gandhi from Rae Bareli, seems to be completely without any basis. While such a contest would attract the maximum attention, it was unlikely to happen.
Firstly, the Congress is yet to declare who its candidates from Rae Bareli and Amethi are going to be. Yes, there is every reason to believe that Priyanka may contest from her mother and grand-parents’ seat, while Rahul would be the candidate from Amethi. But this is not as yet official, and the party high command is perhaps waiting for elections in Kerala to be over because of strategic reasons. Rahul is the nominee from Wayanad, which he represented in 2019 after losing from Amethi, and the Congress feels that they should declare the UP candidatures only after the polls in Kerala are over, particularly because the party is doing reasonably well there.
Secondly, Varun Gandhi has made it clear multiple times that he would never ever pit himself against his cousins. He has also never ever stated anything publicly against his extended family, and though he was once openly snubbed by Rahul for his ideological leanings, he never retaliated or said anything against his elder cousin.
It is evident that Varun is disinclined to contest the 2024 polls and would prefer to be on a sabbatical rather than enter the fray from anywhere else. The denial of ticket would perhaps help him to distance himself from the BJP, and could shape his political future accordingly. His close friend Akhilesh Yadav had apparently offered to support him from any constituency of his choice, but Varun politely refused to contest.
Varun’s mother, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi is contesting from Sultanpur, which is the adjoining constituency to Amethi. She is likely to emerge as the 10th time MP by setting a record of sorts. According to reports, she is handling her own affairs there, and Varun has kept away, even though they have a very close and cordial personal relationship.
The speculation about Varun basically started because the Congress has delayed making its declarations in Uttar Pradesh, and this has needlessly sent a wrong message down the line. For many who are not aware, that despite strained relationship between Maneka and Sonia, Varun shares a deep bond with his cousin, Priyanka. For her, he is her kid brother.
The two Gandhi families had parted ways during Indira Gandhi’s lifetime when Maneka had decided to walk out of 1, Safdarjung Road, the Prime Minister’s residence at the time, along with her toddler son. Indira Gandhi was heartbroken, but could do nothing about this.
However, Varun and his “Chachi”, as he addresses Sonia for some odd reason, had developed a good equation and while growing up, he would spend time at 10, Janpath to be in the company of his cousins. In fact, a day before Sonia Gandhi entered active politics on 14 March 1998, it was Varun’s birthday and he and Priyanka were present when she (Sonia) was rehearsing her speech for the big occasion. There were also reports that he had dropped his aunt to the AICC office on the day she took over. However, this proximity did not help him to get back into the Congress, and Sonia Gandhi perhaps believes that it would be better to keep a distance, since she and her children have inherited what was Indira Gandhi’s political legacy, and which helped them to be in power in several states and the Centre for many years.
There are many analysts who are also convinced that the Congress for decades was run by those who had either been inducted or chosen by the late Sanjay Gandhi during his brief tenure in politics before he died in a tragic air crash on 23 June 1980. While Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded his mother as the Prime Minister in 1984, was a thorough gentleman, all his close friends, Arun Singh, Amitabh Bachchan etc. deserted him. It was only the Sanjay team which kept the Congress flag flying and this included Kamal Nath, Pranab Mukherjee, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ambika Soni and many others. Incidentally, Kamal Nath is probably the only politician who expresses his gratitude to his late friend, Sanjay, by keeping his portrait in his office till this day. Rae Bareli was the constituency which Indira Gandhi chose after assuming the office of Prime Minister and contested her maiden election from there in 1967. At that point of time, the seat, once represented by her husband, Feroze Gandhi, was held by Rajendra Pratap Singh. It was from here in 1971, she had defeated Raj Narain and the election petition that followed unseated her on 12 June 1975, thus paving the way for the Emergency, since the Opposition was not inclined to give her time to go for appeal, and Jai Prakash Narayan gave a call to the unformed forces to revolt.
Indira Gandhi lost in 1977 from the seat though she reclaimed it again in the 1980 polls, but decided to retain Medak in Andhra Pradesh, which she had also won. Other than the family, Rae Bareli has also been represented by close friend Captain Satish Sharma. Thus, it is virtually certain that Priyanka would be making her electoral debut from there, and according to Congress sources, work has already commenced. However, it will never be a Priyanka versus Varun contest there. Between us.