Awola: She is a 5-time MP; he a political novice. But, overnight their roles have reversed. The mother now waits patiently for her star son.
In Awola, which is relatively a new turf for Maneka Gandhi, even local BJP leaders feel that the Varun factor will work to their advantage, in pulling off a win for his mother.
Says Varun Gandhi: "I want to pray to you as a son that all those who are present will have to keep my prestige intact. I'll make my mother win with at least three lakh votes."
Chuddar Harpal Singh, a BJP worker, adds: "First he had come here as Maneka Gandhi's son, now he has come here as a national leader. He now carries the image of a national leader."
At the start of the these elections, Varun was a political debutant. Now he is a star campaigner for a party that bitterly opposed his father.
But at a time, when every vote counts, nothing else matters. And Varun's uses his political lineage in every possible way. His speech are liberally sprinkled with references of his father Sanjay Gandhi, portrayed as the Iron Man of yesteryears.
Ironically, BJP's prime ministerial candidate and their Loh Purush went to jail against Sanjay Gandhi and his polices.