Burying past differences, if the Gandhi family accepts him, Congress may see dramatic changes in its UP poll prospects.
NEW DELHI: The last few days have seen much speculation about the possibility of Lok Sabha MP Varun Gandhi joining Congress. The party workers are happy, but the Gandhi family is maintaining silence over it.
In fact, a recent speech of Varun Gandhi in his parliamentary constituency Pilibhit fuelled speculation. Whatever Varun Gandhi said during this speech was in fact in agreement with what Rahul Gandhi had said while addressing a gathering at Red Fort in Delhi during Bharat Jodo Yatra. The message was that the two brothers are on the same path. What is remarkable is that during visit to Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi has always been hitting hard at the divisive politics on Hindi-Muslim line. Video of his speech is said to be quite old. Varun Gandhi asks the people in his constituency not to be afraid of anyone. Rahul Gandhi also tells the audience not to fear. Undoubtedly, Varun Gandhi and Rahul are following the same path. But no initiative has been taken to ensure Varun Gandhi’s entry in Congress. Rahul has to take a call on this. He did not also break silence on this when asked about Varun Gandhi. Mallikarjuna Kharge is no doubt the Congress President, but no significant decision could be taken without Rahul Gandhi’s consent.
Varun Gandhi is a BJP MP. He has not yet launched any direct attack on the party leadership. However, he has been critical of the government’s policies. He has raised the issues of unemployment and farmers problems that impact the life of the common man. He has spoken openly about how the politics of Hindu-Muslim has caused fear among people. This could be seen as a thinly veiled attack on his party’s government. However, neither party nor government ever reacted to Varun Gandhi’s statements. The opposition is also not saying anything openly about him. There are speculations only in the media, which sometimes speculate about Varun joining Mamata Banerjee’s party TMC or Akhilesh’s SP. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also looking for a leader like Varun Gandhi in UP. But speculations are mostly on Varun Gandhi’s possible entry into Congress as he belongs to the Gandhi family.
Varun Gandhi remains silent on his political future. Burying the past differences, if the Gandhi family accepts him, the Congress may see some dramatic changes in its poll prospects in UP. No doubt, Varun Gandhi has a good hold in UP by virtue of his politics of over a decade there. Now, it will be interesting to see whether Rahul Gandhi, who is presently on Bharat Jodo Yatra, will allow his brother Varun Gandhi to join the Congress in future.