Varun eyes father's seat, Sultanpur

If Rahul Gandhi has made his father’s Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi as his own, his cousin Varun is not far away.

Sources in the BJP have revealed that its firebrand leader and son of Sanjay Gandhi is planning to contest from his late father’s constituency of Sultanpur in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Varun currently represents Pilibhit in UP in the Lok Sabha. Speculations to this effect were lent credence by the reported arrival of a team in Sultanpur to gather information from its assembly segments with regard to Varun Gandhi's possible candidature and present its feedback to him.

Members of the team have been visiting the assembly segments and meeting public representatives at the local bodies and also a cross section of the electorate to gauge the mood and ascertain the possibility of Varun contesting from there.

Varun himself dropped hints about his interest in Sultanpur, when he declared to make the constituency his “karmbhoomi” (work place).

He held meetings in the constituency as well. “Varun could be fielded from Sutampur if he so wishes,” a senior BJP leader said while speaking to Deccan Herald. “And he will emerge as a sure shot winner,” the leader added.

BJP sources said Varun may be wanting to shift from Pilibhit due to the growing feeling that he may not be helped this time by the kind of polarisation that happened in 2009. In 2009, Varun had been booked for allegedly giving “inflammatory speech” at Pilibhit. The then Mayawati regime had even slapped the National Security Act (NSA) on him. The chargesheet has been filed in the matter in the court.