Always yours: Varun Gandhi pens emotional note to people of Pilibhit after being denied ticket by BJP

The relationship between Pilibhit and me is one of love and trust which is far above any political consideration. I was, am, and will be yours, he said in the letter posted on his X handle

Varun Gandhi.: File picture

J.P. Yadav, TT, New Delhi, 29.03.24 : Varun Gandhi on Thursday broke his silence days after the BJP denied him re-nomination from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat, appearing to have quietly accepted the party’s decision to drop him.

The three-term MP posted an emotional letter addressed to the people of the Uttar Pradesh constituency, stressing that even though his “tenure as an MP is coming to an end”, his relationship with Pilibhit cannot end till his “last breath”.

“The relationship between Pilibhit and me is one of love and trust which is far above any political consideration. I was, am, and will be yours,” he said in the letter posted

on his X handle.

Last Sunday, the BJP had dropped Varun from Pilibhit but retained his mother Maneka Gandhi from the neighbouring Sultanpur seat. Jitin Prasada, a crossover from the Congress, replaced Varun in the seat which has remained with the family since 1989.

Varun had been openly critical of some of the decisions and policies of his own party’s government. His mother getting re-nominated, however, surprised many but was seen as a smart ploy by the BJP leadership to punish the young Gandhi and at the same time check a possible rebellion by him.

Despite refraining from an open rebellion, he hinted to continue taking up the cause of the common man, obliquely showing defiance. “I came into politics to raise the voice of the common man and today I seek your blessings to always continue doing this work, no matter what the cost,” he said in the letter.

The 44-year-old Pilibhit MP had been operating almost independently post-2019. Many in the party said he was upset over not being made a minister in the second Modi government. While he was not given a ministerial berth, Maneka was dropped as a minister in Modi’s second term.

While Maneka lied low, Varun took to openly criticising some of the decisions and policies of the Modi government. He went against the party and backed the long-drawn farmers’ agitation against the three contentious farm laws in 2020-21. He had even posted an open letter to Modi, demanding “strict action” against Union minister Ajay Mishra, whose son was accused of crushing four farmers to death.

Last year, Varun had even slammed the government over the death of cheetahs imported from Africa. “Importing cheetahs from Africa and allowing nine to die in a foreign land is an appalling display of negligence,” he had posted on X.

The denial of party ticket to Varun puts a question mark on the political future of the leader in the BJP, years after he had been lapped up by the party to counter the Congress’s Nehru-Gandhi family. The BJP had fielded him from Pilibhit for the first time in 2009 and he won by a huge margin.

During the campaign, he was accused of hate speech against Muslims but his graph rose as he slammed his cousin Rahul Gandhi. He had at one point been projected as

a rising youth face of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.