NEW DELHI : Over a week after the BJP denied him the ticket for the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat, Varun Gandhi on Thursday wrote an open letter to the people of Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency, asserting that his bonding with them will continue.
“If not as an MP, then certainly at least as a son, my relationship with the people of Pilibhit remains till the last breath of mine,” he wrote in an emotional letter.
Varun Gandhi has been critical of the policies of the Modi government on social media even after being a party MP. He shared his letter on ‘X.’ “Even though I am not able to contest elections, I will continue to serve the people of Pilibhit till last breath,” he wrote.
Recalling how Pilibhit helped him in every walk of life, he wrote “Today when I am writing this letter, countless memories have made me emotional. I remember that a three-year –old child who came to Pilibhit for the first time in 1983 holding fingers of his mother. Little did he know that one day this land would become his workplace and the people here would become his family”.
He said he considered himself fortunate for having had the opportunity to serve the people of Pilibhit for years. “The ideals, simplicity and kindness that I got from Pilibhit contributed greatly to my upbringing and development,” he wrote. He told the people of Pilibhit that his tenure as an MP was ending soon. “But my bonding with them will never end.”
However, Varun dropped enough hints about his ‘disgruntlement’ and ‘pain’ after having denied the party ticket.
“I have always raised my voice for your interest with all my might. My term as an MP could be ending but my relationship with Pilibhit can’t till my last breath.”
He also assured the people that not as an MP but as a “son of Pilibhit”, his doors will remain always open to them. “I came into politics to raise the voice of the common man and today, I seek your blessings to continue doing this work. Even if I have to pay any cost for this,” he said.
Speculation was rife that he would be in the fray from the same seat on either the Samajwadi Party ticket or Congress. But sources said that Varun may accompany her mother Maneka Gandhi to her Sultanpur constituency in UP.
This would be the first time that the mother-son duo would not be in the fray. However, Varun is likely to campaign for his mother without resigning from the BJP till at least LS polls.
Pilibhit has been a political turf of the Varun family for a long time. The constituency is located in the Terai belt bordering Nepal in UP and is now being contested by Jitin Prasada.
The Pilibhit LS seat has remained with Maneka Gandhi or Varun since 1996 with the mother winning the seat on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989. However, she was defeated 1991.
Varun Gandhi was elected from this seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate.
BJP sources attributed the denial of the party ticket to his critical stand against the government’s policies. At times, he sounded as if he was with the Opposition on issues such as unemployment.