The Gandhi dynasty was locked in a war of words on Friday after Priyanka Gandhi said her cousin Varun Gandhi had gone “astray” and advised voters in Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh from where he is BJP’s lok Sabha candidate not to vote for him.
Priyanka’s tirade came even as Varun earlier this month sought to praise her brother Rahul Gandhi, a lok Sabha candidate from Amethi, for doing “good work” in his constituency. The BJP’s Sultanpur lok Sabha candidate’s appreciation was then reciprocated by Rahul by expressing his “happiness” over the comments.
Varun’s mother and BJP leader Maneka Gandhi, however, on Sunday chastised Priyanka, saying the country will decide who has gone on the wrong path. “If he has gone astray while serving the country, the country will decide,” she said when asked for her reaction to Priyanka’s comment.
Checking Priyanka’s attack, the BJP quickly came to Varun’s defence saying he is on the “right track”. “I believe that Varun Gandhi is on the right track. And if anyone has misled the country from the right path it is the Congress. Varun is a good man and is playing a good role in the BJP,” BJP president Rajnath Singh said.
At a meeting with Congress workers in Amethi on Saturday, Priyanka asked people not to vote for the BJP leader, who is contesting from the adjacent Sultanpur lok Sabha seat in UP. Varun is a sitting MP from Pilibhit.
“He (Varun Gandhi) is definitely from my family, he is my brother. But he has gone astray. When a young one in the family chooses the wrong path, then the elders show them the right path, the right way. I urge all of you to show my brother the right path,” Priyanka had said in what could probably be one of the first attacks by her on her estranged cousin Varun.
“In order to move forward, he has to unite people with a good heart. I have come to ask you to vote with your heart to vote for the unity of the country, vote for Sultanpur. But also introspect what kind of elections are being held this time. Do not just think about your region but about the whole country this time. And this time vote wisely to show the right path to a young member of the family,” she added.
Priyanka and her mother Congress president Sonia Gandhi had accompanied Rahul Gandhi in Amethi as he filed his nomination, seeking a third consecutive term from the lok Sabha constituency.