Varun Gandhi launches his campaign for Lok Sabha from Sultanpur.
Varun Gandhi launched his campaign for the national election today in a part of Uttar Pradesh that was loyal to his famous father and has more recently been the homestead of his estranged aunt and cousin, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
In Sultanpur, Varun, 33, who is a BJP parliamentarian, propounded his lineage for the consideration of voters. "I have been sent here by God to fulfill my father's ambitions for you," he said, as he sought to remind them that he is part of the Gandhi franchise. "The last time I was here, it was in my mother's lap. I have returned as a man. Let me shoulder your burden," he said.
Sultanpur in Eastern Uttar Pradesh is expected to be Varun's new constituency. He won the last election from Pilibhit in the northern part of the state, which used to be represented by his mother, Maneka, who vacated it for him in 2009.
If Varun shifts to Sultanpur, he will be prospecting for political gold on the turf of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, who represent adjacent Rae Bareli and Amethi in Parliament, and are the two top leaders of the Congress.
Varun and Rahul are the grandsons of former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Varun's father, Sanjay, represented Amethi in Parliament when he died in a plane crash in 1980. His older brother, Rajiv, who was Rahul's father, then made Amethi his constituency till he was assassinated in 1991.
Varun's mother, Maneka, fell out with Indira Gandhi after Sanjay Gandhi's death; she joined the BJP in 2004.
Varun was jailed for for 19 days in 2009 after he won the election from Pilibhit on charges that he delivered speeches designed to trigger communal tension between Hindus and Muslims. Last year, a court in Uttar Pradesh exonerated him, citing lack of evidence.