This Article is From Mar 12, 2014

This Gandhi hits the campaign trail in Sultanpur

This Gandhi hits the campaign trail in Sultanpur
After Rae Bareli and Amethi, it is now neighbouring Sultanpur's turn to be coveted by a Gandhi. Rae Bareli is represented in the Lok Sabha by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Amethi by her son Rahul. Rahul's cousin Varun, 33, has now set his sight on wresting Sultanpur, but as a member of the BJP, the Congress' principal political rival.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Sultanpur had been claimed by the Raja of Amethi, Sanjay Singh, a close friend of Varun's father, the late Sanjay Gandhi. The BJP candidate, Surya Bhan Singh could only garner 44,425 votes. But Varun remains undeterred, and has begun campaigning in the constituency in earnest, even before his candidature was formally declared by his party.

Varun, who won from Pilibhit in 2009, arrived in Sultanpur yesterday, and has set for himself a gruelling task of addressing 71 public meetings in the five assembly segments in the next four days. To the voters, he has a simple message, "Dekho aaj ghar aaya is mitti ka lal, Menaka, Sanjay ka beta ghar aaya'' (The son of the soil has returned, Menaka and Sanjay Gandhi's son has come home).

The BJP leader does not hesitate to invoke his family legacy. His father became an MP from Amethi way back in 1980, But he was killed in a plane crash soon after. Varun's uncle Rajiv won the seat in a by-election held later that year.

But Varun faces an uphill task in winning Sultanpur. Mr Singh, sensing an anti-incumbency disadvantage, may have opted to shift to the Rajya Sabha from Assam, but his wife Amita, a former national badminton champion, is likely to be designated the Congress candidate, and the family commands a lot of clout in the region.

But the chance of sending a Gandhi to Parliament has charged up a large section of electorate. "He's a Gandhi. That is why we want him,'' gushed a voter.

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